Graduation Day, Part 3 of a Trilogy
by Whistler Nights
Summary: It is Graduation Day 2012 at McKinley and Finn and Rachel prepare to cross the auditorium stage one last time. Is their relationship just another high school romance, or can they survive the long term separation?
1. Chapter 1

Graduation Day and Beyond Chapter 1

(Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or any of the characters.)

Part 1 – Commencement

The 2012 Graduation Day at McKinley High School was finally here. It was a day that Finn had looked forward to since he started as a freshman four years ago, but since New Directions and Rachel had come into his life; it'd become a day that he dreaded too.

This little band of twelve and Mr. Schue had become a second family to him, even more than any sports team that he'd played on. New Directions had finished their run with a second national championship in two years. New Directions would go on. Since their first national win in 2011, it was now cool to be a member, and more and more underclassmen had joined.

Finn knew that once the diplomas were handed out, his high school days would be over, and this group of friends would never be the same. Summer would come and go, but when August came, everyone would be heading in different directions to begin the next stage of their lives.

With the help of Mrs. Pillsbury/Howell and Coach Beiste, Finn would be going to Ohio State in Columbus on a partial football scholarship. With the scholarship money and his dad's benefits from the military, he could swing it. Quinn and Sam were also going to Ohio State. Quinn had received a full ride cheerleading scholarship, and Sam was on a partial football scholarship. At least there'd be someone there that he actually knew.

Rachel had been accepted at Juilliard in New York. The news of her acceptance to such a prestigious school had even been on the local news, but no one in New Directions was surprised. Finn knew that Juilliard was inevitable.

Tina, Mercedes, and Kurt would be heading to NYU and were sharing an apartment. Artie and Mike would be the closer to home going to Carnegie/Mellon in Pittsburg. Artie had been shortchanged in the legs department, but his brain power would be taking him places. Everyone was going somewhere except for Brittany, but she didn't seem to mind staying at home and going to community college in Lima.

Finn would've probably joined her at community college if it hadn't been for Coach Beiste and Mrs. P/H. Coach Beiste knew an athletic department scout at OSU and Mrs. P/H had tutored Finn diligently to meet eligibility requirements when OSU had shown an interest in him. Two national championships in show choir hadn't hurt him either.

Now he stood in line in the back of the auditorium that he'd performed in so many times waiting to cross the stage one last time. He was lined up ahead of Kurt who stood directly behind him in his cap and gown along with his Beta Club and academic honors cords and medals. Brittany was a few dozen students behind them, and like Finn had only the red cap and gown. Rachel and Artie were at the head of the line. Rachel was salutatorian and Artie was class valedictorian. The two of them would be giving the class graduation speeches.

The alphabetical graduation line was now complete and they waited for the Graduation March to begin playing as their cue to enter.

As the line entered, Finn and Kurt spotted Burt and Carole who were sitting with Rachel's two dads. They were met with flashing cameras and cheers. The school faculty was seated in the first two rows, and Mr. Schue looked like he was going to cry. Coach Sylvester and Mrs. P/H were seated on either side of him and Coach Beiste was seated beside Mrs. P/H.

Finn took his seat in the auditorium and the graduation proceedings began. His attention quickly drifted and he was remembering the first time that he'd rehearsed with the first five members of New Directions. Rachel really freaked him out when they sang _You are the One That I Want, _but he knew from the moment that he heard her sing that she was special.

Looking down the row that he was on, he saw Quinn sitting three seats from Sam. Sam and Quinn had dated since he had joined New Directions in their junior year. Sam hadn't known her before, and he saw her harsh exterior as a false façade, a barrier to protect her from a world of hurt.

Quinn had pursued Finn when Coach Tanaka had moved him up to QB1 as a sophomore. She was his first love, or at least he thought it was love. They'd become sort of friends again, but the lies and the baby had left an indelible mark on his life.

Thinking of Beth he looked behind him and saw Puck sitting two rows back. Puck had been his best friend since pre-school. They were tentative friends again, but they would never be as close as they once were. Puck was going to NASCAR Tech in North Carolina and hoped to join one of the racing teams when he graduated. If that didn't work out, he wanted to be a rock star. Finn thought to himself that Puck would probably end up back here in Lima, changing tires at Burt's Tire and Lube.

Near Puck was Brittany. Community college and waiting tables at Breadsticks was on her horizon.

Turning his head, he saw Santana. She taken his virginity when they were sophomores, and it'd almost cost him Rachel.

Remembering Rachel, he snapped out of his reminiscing and turned his attention back to the stage. Artie was just finishing his graduation speech and it would soon be Rachel's turn to speak. Rachel was still not the most popular girl at school. Her odd clothes and blunt way of speaking turned off most people before they had a chance to know her, but he loved her. He knew it was love, and he didn't know how he was going to say goodbye to her in August.

Not really listening to Rachel's speech about the future, he'd heard it a dozen times already, his mind started to wander again.

He remembered their loss at Regionals when they were sophomores. It was the same night that he told her that he loved her for the first time. That was two years ago, and he'd taken her out for dinner for their second anniversary just last week.

Their relationship had started off slowly. Both of them were fresh off of bad breakups. He had confessed to her about Santana, and it had almost been the end of them. Rachel was hurt and felt betrayed, but thanks to Shelby of all people, Rachel had forgiven him.

He had been her first and had taken her virginity, and he hoped that she would never regret it. With her dads gone so much, and his mom working the evening shift at the hospital, they had sex a lot. Usually it was at her house because she had that queen size bed. They would make love, and then spend hours in each others arms talking, sleeping, or just cuddling. Finn's mom had figured out that the two of them were sleeping together, but Hiram and Leroy were totally oblivious to the fact that their little girl was now a woman. Last fall, he and Rachel had even had their own pregnancy scare, but luckily it was a false alarm.

It was during that time that Finn began to think about what he was going to do when the two of them graduated and went their separate ways. He knew that she was destined for New York and he wasn't. He also knew that it didn't make any difference how many miles were between them, she was the girl that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.

There was no doubt that Rachel would be a star, a big star. Would she out grow him? By the grace of God and Ms. P/H, and Coach Beiste, he was going to a big name school to play football, but he was still going to be a little fish in a big pond.

Rachel concluded her speech, and Principal Figgins stood up to pass out the diplomas. When this was done, they turned their tassels and tossed their mortar boards in the air.

Lunch was a celebration at Breadsticks for the Hummel's, Hudson's, and Berry's. Kurt and Rachel were so proud of their diplomas and all of their honors and academic awards. Finn was just proud of Rachel. He watched her and held her hand all through lunch and wondered how he'd ever gotten to be so lucky.

Finn had two weeks of summer vacation to enjoy until he had to be in Columbus for summer school and football camp. He was academically eligible to play football, but OSU had insisted on summer school and preparatory class work. He would also have grad students as tutors for as long as he needed.

The two weeks of summer vacation that were his to enjoy were spent with Rachel. He spent every moment that he could with her. She helped him pack and shop and get ready for his move to the big time.

-/-

Finn arrived at the OSU campus in Columbus, Ohio and reported first to the athletics department and then he found his room assignment in the jock dorm. The jock dorm was conveniently located near the grad dorm for jocks that need academic help. Finn had hoped that Sam would be his roommate and was happy when he entered his dorm room and saw a McKinley High School gym bag sitting on the other bed.

Sam was no where to be found, but later he learned that Sam had been exploring the campus with Quinn. Quinn had been assigned to one of the freshmen dorms, but planned on pledging a sorority in September. For now she was attending the Buckeyes cheerleading camp and learning their routines.

Finn was just settling in when he received a call from the desk downstairs, his grad student tutor was here and wanted to go over his schedule. "Couldn't this wait?" he thought to himself. "I bet that he is some hard ass jerk who thinks he's too good to tutor a freshman jock." He would be taking two classes this summer and neither one of them counted toward graduation. One was Introduction to Basic Study Skills and the other one was Introduction to Basic Writing. Finn was better at math than he was at writing so he was glad that he wouldn't have to take kiddy math too.

He stepped out of the elevators and the RA at the desk pointed him to a petite red-head.

"Hello, my name is Jillian O'Malley, you must be Finn Hudson. I am your assigned tutor this summer," she said brightly as she held out her hand to greet him. Jillian was a first year grad student majoring in journalism. She was at least six inches taller than Rachel and couldn't have weighed much more. Her hair was a chestnut reddish brown and her eyes were a striking shade of green. Freckles dappled the bridge of her nose. She was a native New Yorker and of Irish descent. Her family owned a pub near the theater district, and they lived over the pub with her grandparents who were from the old country.

Finn couldn't believe his luck; he also couldn't wait to introduce Rachel to Jillian. Rachel had made many trips to New York, but meeting someone who actually grew up there would be all gravy. Finn told her about Rachel and how she would be going to Juilliard in the fall to study musical theater.

Later that afternoon Finn was unpacking when Sam and Quinn came in after exploring the campus.

"Hey lover boy," Finn said to Sam. "While you were gone your grad student tutor came by to see you. I tried to call you, but you had your phone cut off."

"Well, I was busy," Sam said as he gave Quinn a soft kiss. "Tell me what she was like."

"Your she is a he," Finn said to Sam trying not to laugh. "He left his phone number and your class schedule on your desk"

"What was he like?" Sam asked.

By now Finn was holding his sides trying not to laugh. "Imagine a cross between Jacob Ben Israel and Krofsky and you would be pretty close. His name is Walter S. Drake the third."

"Did you meet your tutor?" Sam asked trying not to sound upset.

"I sure did, and maybe if you'd been here, you could've met HER too." Finn said trying to rub it in. "She's a petite red head from New York City. He grandparents emigrated here from Ireland and her parents own a pub in the theater district. She looks like a younger version of Mrs. P/H except she has green eyes. Her name is Jillian O'Malley."

Finn was dancing around the room while Sam sat down on his bed totally overwhelmed. Quinn just stood there looking at Finn like he'd just lost his mind.

"Have you told Rachel about your new study buddy," asked Quinn coolly. "She almost freaked when she found out that you and I were going to be at the school, but calmed down when Sam was accepted here too."

"What're you taking about?" Finn asked Quinn. "Jillian's four years older than I am. I'm not like Puck going after cougars."

"I wouldn't exactly call a twenty two year old a cougar, you idiot," Quinn said to Finn sarcastically. "She is just like us except with four years of college life under her belt. And being your tutor, she can be in your room or you in hers after visitor hours."

"You're right," Finn said as his joy turned to worry. "Rachel's going to kill me."

"Would you like to trade tutors?" Sam laughed to Finn. I will trade my Walter S. Drake the third for your green eyed Irish babe."

Quinn quickly gave Sam an elbow in the ribs. "I'll tutor you myself if I have too. You're keeping Walter and that's that."

Finn's mind raced, "Well it's only for the summer session. I can request another tutor in August. I just have to find a way to keep the two from ever meeting, but it's going to be hard since I've already told her about Rachel and Juilliard. Rachel's driving down this weekend to see me."

"Is Rachel the jealous type?" Sam asked enjoying watching Finn dangle.

"Yeah, you don't know the half of it," Finn sighed. "Quinn, you've always been smarter than me. You and Sam are going to have to help me find a way to keep Rachel for meeting Jillian this weekend."

-/-

Chapter 2 is on the way. Please keep reviewing. Thank you, Whister Nights


	2. Chapter 2

Reunited – Chapter 2

After Finn had met with his grad tutor Jillian on Monday, he went to his first session of his two summer school classes on Tuesday. He had classes and labs in the morning and football all afternoon.

Entering the locker room on Wednesday, two of the assistant coaches motioned for Finn to join them in an office.

"Finn," one them started. "We have some good news and some okay news for you."

"What's the good news?" asked Finn.

"The coaching staff has decided to groom you for the future quarterback position, but the okay news is that the staff has decided to red shirt you this year."

"What exactly does that mean?" asked Finn confused.

"What that means is that you'll practice with the team and learn all that you can, but you'll not play in actual games this year. It gives you time to learn, and gives you an extra year of eligibility is case you're with us for five years. We've been looking at your academic record, and this extra time will give you time to catch up."

Finn didn't say anything, but felt the disappointment seeping over him.

"This is good news, son. We're going to do everything that we can to get you ready to take over as the Buckeyes starting quarterback in the future, and this gives us time without using up your four years of eligibility. To place you on the team now would probably mean that you'd be a bench warmer all season. It also gives the university time to get you up to speed academically. We wouldn't want our starting quarterback on academic suspension."

"If you prove your worth, that partial scholarship has the potential of being bumped up to a full ride. We also want you to know that we're offering this same deal to Sam Evans. We'll be grooming his as your backup. "

Now that all of this was sinking in, Finn could see that this was a win-win situation for him.

"We've some paper work to complete for your red shirt status, but other than that, you'll continue here at summer camp and learn all that you can. Do you have any questions?"

"Not at the moment." Finn concluded. "Thank you for taking such an interest in me. I promise I won't let you down."

"Well hit the showers and we'll see you tomorrow afternoon. And son, I know that taking these summer school classes must feel degrading, but take advantage of them. The athletic department is paying for your tutor so use that edge as well. We wouldn't be doing this if we didn't see your potential."

"Yes sir," said Finn as the two assistant coaches left the room.

Finn showered and saw Sam getting dressed in the locker room.

"Did the assistant coaches talk to you?" Finn asked Sam.

"Yeah," said Sam. "I get to play second fiddle to you again. But watch out, I'm still hot on your heels, and I know all of your moves."

Finn gave Sam his half smile before he said, "Well one injury and the job's yours. Remember when you got your shoulder dislocated and I took over for you?"

"Yeah, and you never gave the job back." Said Sam as the two of them headed for the door.

Sam continued, "Before I forget, Quinn and I may have a solution for keeping Rachel from meeting Jillian this weekend. Quinn suggested that we take my Tahoe, and we go to Lima this weekend instead of Rachel coming down here to see you. Quinn said that she would drive and you and I can study and get some homework done while we're on the road."

"Sounds like a plan to me," beamed Finn. "I do have some reading and writing to do for my classes, and you and I can help each other learn these plays. Are you sure that Quinn is okay driving?"

"It was her idea," Sam answered. "But the next weekend, you're on your own bro. Me and my lady have some plans."

"You're so lucky that you and Quinn are going to the same school," said Finn. "Let me call Rachel and run this change of plans by her."

"Tell her that we've some news from the football staff that we want to share with our families. It's the truth and it's a good reason to come home," said Sam reaching for the passenger door of Finn's truck.

Finn and Sam drove back to their dorm as Finn talked to Rachel on his cell phone. She was already packed and ready to make the trip to Columbus, but her luggage could wait until another weekend. She was just so glad that she was going to get to see him one way or the other.

Sam and Finn made it back to their dorm and had just entered their room when Finn asked Sam, "How did your first meeting go with your tutor?"

"Actually very well," said Sam. "He's not as bad as you made him out to be. He's a special education major going for his masters. When he found out that I was dyslexic, he requested me. Seems that dyslexia has been the focus of his education and he wants to work with school kids who have it."

"So you're going to be his guinea pig?" said Finn smiling.

"No, I don't think so," said Sam. "He's already finished all of his clinical work. He needs the money for student loans, so he thought that he might be able to help me. Seems that he is dyslexic too, but has been able to learn how to cope with it. How is Jillian working out? Is she still the hot Irish babe that you thought that she was?"

"Please don't tell anyone that I said this, but I feel that she is a red-headed Rachel clone. Talk, talk, talk, nag, nag, nag. I think that it's cute with Rachel. I can shut her up with a kiss, and kissing almost always leads to sex. Which reminds me, I'm going to get laid this weekend!"

"Too Much Information!" sighed Sam as he threw his books onto his bed.

The two of them then settled down with their playbooks to start learning new routes and plays, but Finn hummed the melody to _Working for the Weekend_ until the two left for dinner.

Friday afternoon came quickly enough and football practice was cut short. Finn, Sam and Quinn were on the road by 5:00. Quinn was driving with Sam seated beside her. Finn was in the back seat with his books and OSU t-shirts for the family. The back of the Tahoe was pilled high with luggage and dirty laundry.

The boys studied until 6:00 when Finn stretched and asked if they could start looking for a burger joint. His legs were cramping sitting cross ways in the back seat. Sam was leaning against the passenger door with his socked toes stuck under Quinn's right leg as she drove.

"Yeah," said Quinn, "I've had about enough of Sam wiggling his toes against my leg."

"Babe, I was just trying to keep you awake," Sam said innocently enough.

"Well after we eat, one of you can take over the driving," Quinn said as she pulled into a burger joint.

"I'll drive," said Finn. "You two were kind enough to do this for me."

"Great," said Sam, "Quinn and I can sit in the back seat together with all of this dirty laundry behind us. Maybe we can get a head start on our weekend."

"I'm not going to get pulled over when some cop sees you making out in the back seat," said Finn trying not to laugh.

"Don't worry," said Quinn. "He still has a rough draft of a paper to do before he gets anything from me."

The three arrived in Lima, and Finn, his gym bag, and his dirty laundry were dropped off in front of his house. Carole has been watching the clock and was out the door before the Tahoe drove off. Finn hugged his mom as Burt and Kurt came out to help gather up his things and carry them into the house.

Once inside Finn passed out the OSU t-shirts to everyone and then told them about his summer school classes and the red shirt deal with the football team.

Carole seemed confused about Finn being red shirted, but Burt promised that he'd explain everything to her.

Finn reached into his gym bag and pulled out an extra small OSU t-shirt. "Mom, if you don't mind, I'd like to borrow your car and run over to see Rachel. I bought this shirt for her, and I haven't seen her in a week."

"Sure, here's the keys, I'll leave the porch light on for you." Carole said giving her son one more hug. "Try and be home in time for breakfast, I want all of us to wear our matching OSU t-shirts to Waffle House."

Kurt only rolled his eyes and said something under his breath.

Finn backed Carole's Mustang out of the driveway and made his way to Rachel's house. When he pulled into her drive-way he noticed that Hiram's Lexus and Leroy's BMW weren't there, only Rachel's pink Prius. Before he could open the car door, Rachel was there opening it for him. She leaned into the car and whispered to Finn that this had been the longest week of her life before she gave him a long lingering kiss.

"It'been a long week for me too," Finn said against her lips as he pulled her into his lap.

"Where're your dads?" Finn said as he broke from the kiss.

"Dad's in Cincinnati until tomorrow, and Daddy's in Cleveland till Sunday," Rachel whispered back to him.

"What're we waiting for?" Finn said as he nuzzled her neck.

"Race you," squealed Rachel as she jumped off of Finn's lap and ran toward the house.

Finn was right behind her as he chased her through the front door and up the stairs toward her bedroom. When Finn stepped inside her room, she was no where to be seen. Turning around he found her standing behind her door as she pushed it close behind them.

"I brought something for you," Finn said holding up the OSU t-shirt.

"Oh thank you, I can sleep in it tonight. Let me see if it fits," she said seductively as she pulled her blouse over her head.

"You can try the t-shirt later," Finn said as he reached for her blouse. As he unhooked her bra, she unbuttoned his shirt.

-/-

"What time is it?" Rachel said as she rolled over in Finn's bare arms. "I think that I fell asleep."

"It's still Friday; I haven't heard your grandfather clock downstairs strike midnight yet." Finn said as he kissed her bare shoulder. "I didn't realize how much I've missed you. It's only been a week, I don't know how I'm going to say goodbye to you this August."

"Let's not talk about that now. We're here together, and I want to spend every moment that I can with you. Can you spend the night?" asked Rachel as she stoked her fingernails over his chest.

"Mom doesn't need her car until tomorrow, and she's already figured out that we're sleeping together. She did say that she wanted me home in time for breakfast. She wants us all to wear our OSU t-shirts to Waffle House."

"Well I'd better not sleep in mine tonight or it'll be all wrinkled for breakfast," said Rachel seductively.

"I was hoping that you'd sleep in what you've got on right now," Finn said looking down at her body.

"Nothing?" asked Rachel.

"Nothing," answered Finn.

-/-

Thank you for reading and reviewing. Chapter 3 will be up very soon. Whistler Nights


	3. Chapter 3 Jillian O

Jillian O'Malley- Chapter 3

The grandfather clock downstairs and Rachel's alarm clock both sounded simultaneously. Finn reached over the warm form that was snuggled up against him and cut off the alarm clock.

"What time is it?" Rachel asked half asleep.

"It's five AM, I promised my mom that I'd be home in time for breakfast, so I set your alarm," Finn answered retrieving his boxers from the floor.

"Do you have to go?" pleaded Rachel. "You said that your mom's already figured out that we're sleeping together."

"I should, I'm going to be here less than two days, and I need to spend some time with the family too. Mom wants all of us to wear our OSU t-shirts to Waffle House, we can pick you up on the way," Finn said as he was digging under the bed looking for his shoes.

"I think that I'll meet all of you there," said Rachel. "If I drive my Prius, we can use my car the rest of the day. Call me and let me know when to be there."

"Sounds like a plan, I'll call you when we leave. Remember to wear your shirt; I'm sure Mom will have to take pictures. Don't get up; I'll lock the door behind me."

After the goodbye kisses and numerous I love yous, Finn made his way downstairs and out to his mom's waiting Mustang. Rachel rolled over and realized that his side of the bed was still warm. She snuggled deep into the cover and buried her head in his pillow where the scent of him still lingered. She listened as the Mustang's engine noise grew fainter and fainter.

Finn arrived home a few minutes later, and true to her word the porch light was on. He made his way up the steps and fumbled for the front door key. Once inside he saw all of the dirty laundry that he'd brought home washed and neatly folded.

He slowly made his way to his bed. Finn was trying to be quiet, but the third step had creek in it that always announced when someone was coming. He had forgotten to step over it. Finn tip toed past a sleeping Kurt, but Kurt rolled over and flipped on the lamp beside his bed.

"Are you coming in late or leaving early?" asked Kurt sarcastically.

"I'm just getting in, I promised Mom that I'd be home in time for breakfast," said Finn slipping off his shoes.

"Well you're cutting it kind of close aren't you Cowboy?"

"Yeah, but I haven't seem Rachel in a week," answered Finn.

"Kurt, can I talk to you for a few minutes?" asked Finn.

"I don't want to hear about your night with Rachel," Kurt said sleepily.

"No, it's not that. I'm worried about Rachel. I've only been away for a week, and Columbus is so much bigger than Lima. I still don't know my way around campus, but I have Sam and Quinn there too. Rachel's going to be in one of the biggest city on Earth, and she isn't going to know anyone at Juilliard. At least you, Tina and Mercedes will be in the same town at NYU."

"What are you asking me to do?" mumbled Kurt trying to go back to sleep.

"Just look after her for me, would you? You know that she's fearless. She's like the smallest dog in the fight, ready to take on all comers. Sometimes her curiosity and her mouth get her into trouble," yawned Finn.

"If you'll let me get another's hours sleep, Tina Mercedes, and I'll have her over for dinner or shopping or something. We may not be at the same schools, but we'll only be four miles apart," said Kurt reaching for the lamp.

"That's all that I'm asking, just look after her for me," said Finn closing his eyes and rolling over.

-/-

At 8:00 Saturday morning, Carole, Burt, Kurt, and Finn met Rachel in the parking lot of the Waffle House.

"It's so good to see you," squealed Carole running over to hug Rachel.

"It's good to see all of you too," said Rachel standing there in her OSU t-shirt and a pair of matching shorts.

"We look like a convention," said Kurt dryly.

"Well at least my school has a football team, and a top ranked one at that," beamed Finn. "When I get to be quarterback, and you and your buddies are watching me on ESPN, you'll be proud of that shirt. Do you have a pen? I'll autograph it for you."

"You're getting ahead of yourself Cowboy, but I'm proud of you. Otherwise you'd not catch me looking like an OSU groupie," Kurt joked as he smoothed his OSU t-shirt.

"Table for five," said Burt as the group entered the restaurant.

They were seated and menus were passed around. Soon the orders were taken as they were enjoying coffee and orange juice.

"So tell us some more about your tutor Jillian," requested Kurt.

Finn almost choked on his coffee, and Rachel's eyes grew large as she stared at Finn.

"I told you about her last night," said Finn trying to change the subject.

"You didn't tell me," said a surprised Rachel.

"Ah Rach, she's a twenty two year old first year grad student majoring in journalism that the athletic department has assigned to help me with my writing and study skills."

"Is she pretty?" asked an insecure Rachel.

"Nah," said Finn, "She has red hair and freckles. She nags a lot too."

"That isn't what you said last night," interrupted Kurt. "I looked her up on line; she has the most amazing green eyes and only a few freckles across her nose. Did you tell Rachel where she's from and where her parents live?"

"No, I didn't," said Finn giving Kurt a look that could kill.

"Rachel her name is Jillian O'Malley, she grew up in New York City, and her parents own a pub in the theater district. She and her parents and grandparents live in an apartment over the pub. Her grandparents are from the old country. That's all that I know about her. Now could someone pass me the syrup?" Finn concluded trying desperately to change the subject as the waffles were passed around.

"Finn, she sounds like she and I might have a lot in common," Rachel said cheerfully. "I can't wait to meet her. Maybe I can look up her family when I get to New York."

Finn just nodded making sure that his mouth was stuffed with waffles.

The rest of the meal was spent in talk about football practice and how he and Sam were being red shirted for their freshmen year.

The meal concluded when Carole asked the waitress to take a few picture of the five of them in their matching OSU t-shirts. Finn joined Rachel in her Prius and they followed Carole, Burt and Kurt back to the Hummel/Hudson household.

"I finished your laundry and I have it ready for you to take back with you," Carole said to Finn as they entered the living room. "Could you make a list of anything that you might need? I'm going grocery shopping and running a few errands later this morning."

"Yeah," interrupted Burt, "Kurt and I have to get back to the tire store, Saturday's our busiest day, but make sure that you buy some nice steaks. We're going to cook out tonight."

"Dad, you know that you can't have red meat, plus Rachel's a vegan, and I'm a vegetarian!" Kurt exclaimed.

"Oh, you're such a buzz-kill," said an exasperated Burt. "Carole, just buy the usual groceries, but make sure that you get an extra thick steak for Finn. Football players need lots of red meat."

Kurt and Burt changed into their overalls and left for the tire store. Carole went into the kitchen and made a list of what she needed to pick up at the grocery store. She soon returned with her list and her car keys.

"I hate to run out on you two, but I'll be back in two hours," Carole said to Finn and Rachel. "Call me if you think of anything else to add to your list."

The house was empty except for Finn and Rachel.

"Why do you think she told us when she was coming back," Rachel asked Finn.

"Maybe she just wanted to give us some alone time," Finn said as he pulled her into a kiss. "Would you like to go downstairs to my room or back to your house?"

"Daddy should be home sometime this morning, so let's stay here," Rachel whispered to him.

"That sounds great to me, but I have to warn you, my bed is not made."

"We're probably going to mess your bed up anyway," Rachel smiled at him. "And according to your Mom's time table, we only have an hour and fifty five minutes before she gets back."

"So let's not waste any more time," said Finn leading her toward the stairs.

Walking past Kurt's room, it was immaculate. Rachel had often wondered if Kurt had ODC. Finn's room was a different story. There was a trail between football equipment, drums, weighs, computers and speakers. As Finn had said, his bed was unmade, but she did not care.

When Carole returned from her grocery shopping exactly two hours later, she found the two of them on the couch watching Funny Girl for the millionth time. Rachel was curled into Finn's side, and he had his arm around

her.

"Mom, let me help you with the groceries," Finn said jumping off of the couch and heading out the door.

"That would be great," sighed Carole as she sat down a large bag of groceries.

"I'll help too," said Rachel as she hurried out the door behind Finn.

As the groceries were put away, Rachel made her apologies. She told Finn and Carole that she needed to get back home for a few hours, but she'd be back in time for dinner.

Finn walked her to her car and gave her a long lingering kiss in the driveway.

"Finn, your neighbors might be watching," Rachel protested as she pulled back out of the kiss.

"To hell with the neighbors, I just can't get enough of you. I'll be leaving tomorrow and I have to get enough of you to last a week. Five days is a long time to be without you," Finn answered leaning in for another kiss.

"I never knew that five days could be so long either," said Rachel giving into another kiss.

Finally she backed the Prius out of the drive way and tooted the horn as Finn waved to her. He walked back into the house to find his mom vacuuming the living room.

"Let me do that for you," Finn said reaching for the vacuum cleaner.

"No, I can do it," protested Carole, "but if you don't mind I would like to sit down and talk for awhile. Just the two of us like we did before you grew up to be a college man."

"Sure," said Finn taking a seat on the couch and patting the place next to him for Carole to sit.

"Finn, she began, "I know that you are eighteen years old, and old enough to make your own decisions. You're away from home now, and like any mom, I worry about you. You know that I know that you and Rachel are sleeping together. I respect your privacy, but you're aware of the consequences and responsibilities that come with taking that step. I hope that the close call with Quinn has taught you a valuable lesson."

"Yes," Mom. "I've been expecting this conversation, but I want you to know that Rachel isn't just another roll in the hay. I love her and she loves me. We want to make this relationship go the distance. We're using protection, if that's what you are asking."

"That's what I'm asking," Carole said as she gave Finn a hug. "Now tell me about this red shirting. Burt tried to explain it to me, but I'd like to hear it from you. And tell me more about this Jillian. Kurt makes it sound like she's a red flag being held in front of a bull."

"No, Jillian isn't a red flag. In fact, I may ask for another tutor this fall if she doesn't give up on the nagging. I feel like I'm her pet project and that if I don't make straight A's, then it is a reflection on her. She's so intense like Rachel and I don't think I can stand two 'A' type personalities in my life. Sam likes his tutor, and I may ask to work with him if Sam doesn't. He's a special education major and he's helping Sam cope with his dyslexia."

"But you aren't dyslexic," Carole said with a worried expression on her face.

"No, but I do have so much trouble paying attention. My mind wanders and the lectures go in one ear and out the other. Did you ever have me test for ADHD when I was a kid?" Finn questioned.

"Your teachers mentioned it, but I said no because you weren't bouncing off of the walls. You've never been hyperactive, and I wasn't going to put you on a drug. I'm a nurse remember." Carole said as she gave him a look of concern.

"Mom, I think that I was over active, I just took all of that energy out on my drums. How many drum kits have I gone through? Three that I know of," Finn said as he took her hand in his. "Anyway, I'm going to look into it this summer while I'm at summer school, but I'm not going to do anything without running it by you first. I may be a college guy, but your opinion still counts with me."

Finn hugged his mom, before he stood up and started the vacuum cleaner. He helped her with the Saturday chores until about 2:00 when Rachel returned.

"You've done enough Finn," Carole said to Finn as Rachel entered the door. "You two go and enjoy yourselves for awhile. Dinner will be at 7:00, but you may have to grill your steak to keep Burt from sampling it."

Finn and Rachel walked around Lima, and nothing has changed in the week that Finn had been gone. The park was the same, the shopping was the same. They just really enjoyed being together holding hands and stealing quick kisses.

Dinner turned out to be a smorgasbord as everyone had their own menu. Finn had a huge sirloin, but he made sure that Burt got part of it when Carole and Kurt weren't looking. Finn and Rachel did the dishes while Carole and Burt retreated to the den to watch TV and Kurt went over to Mercedes' house. When the dishes were done, the two found the front porch swing and sat there holding on to one another in the dark.

"In less than twenty four hours you'll be gone," Rachel sadly said into Finn's shoulder pulling him closer.

"But you're coming down on Friday," Finn said. "You can be there in less than two hours, and I'm only a phone call away. If I can get the camera working on my computer, we can have live chats. I'll have to find a place for you to stay."

"Can't I stay in your dorm room?" asked Rachel. I thought I was going to stay with you in your dorm, and Sam was going to stay with Quinn."

"That was the plan, but I'm not sure if we can work it out. There're rules about female visitors in our dorm after visiting hours. The upper classmen do it all the time, but I don't have the clout that they have. But don't worry, I'll have it all planned out before you get there."

Sunday afternoon came too quickly. At 3:00 Sam's Tahoe pulled up with Sam and Quinn already packed inside it. Rachel fought back the tears as Finn kissed her goodbye and then the Tahoe rolled out of sight.

"It's alright," said Carole hugging Rachel. "You'll see him on Friday."

"It's not that," Rachel said. "It's so hard to say goodbye now and he's less than two hours away. How am I going to say goodbye to him when I leave for New York?"

Very unlike Kurt, he gave Rachel a hug and offered her his Dior handkerchief.

"Do you know that Finn made me promise to look after you this fall in New York?" Kurt said to Rachel.

"No he didn't tell me that. How are you going to look after me when we 'll be at different schools?"

"Different schools, but not different towns," said Kurt. "You know that Tina, Mercedes and I are going to share an apartment, and we want you to come over as much as you can. This is killing Finn to be apart from you too, but Ohio State is his chance and Juilliard is yours."

"Just think, in the not too distant future, you'll be on Broadway, Finn will be a quarterback for the New York Jets or Giants or whatever, and you'll be begging me to come over and baby sit for your Berry-Hudson rug-rats," Kurt said with a smile."

"Thanks Kurt," Rachel said drying her tears. "But don't make me into a mom just yet."

"And don't make me into a grandmom just yet either," said Carole smiling at Kurt.

Meanwhile the Tahoe was making its' way back to Columbus. Sam was driving, Quinn was sleeping, and Finn was in the back seat furiously trying to finish his homework assignment before Monday's class. He was meeting with Jillian first thing in the morning to go over his assignment before class. Jillian had wanted to meet for tutoring over the weekend, but he'd blown her off when he decided to head to Lima instead.

At 8:00 Monday morning, he felt that blowing off tutoring might have been a mistake. He walked into one of the study rooms in the grad dorm to find Jillian waiting for him. She wasn't in a good mood.

"How was your weekend?" asked Jillian. "Most students don't go home for at least a month when they first get here. Are you homesick or something?"

"No," said Finn as he handed her his assignment. "Sam and I just wanted to tell our parents about the red shirting, and I do have a serious girlfriend there."

Finn watched as she read over his writing assignment. Finally she put the papers down and looked at him and shook her head.

"Do you realize the chance that the university is offering you? This work is pitiful. Did you do it on your way back here last night? I put time aside to work with you on Saturday, and you ran home for a booty call," Jillian said crossing her arms.

"Just wait a minute!" Finn snapped at her. "Rachel isn't a booty call, and writing has always been my weakness. I thought that you're supposed to be helping me, not nagging me."

"How am I supposed to help you when you're not here? How can I nag you when you're not here? The university has offered you the chance of a life time and you're throwing it away. If it weren't for your throwing arm, you'd be back in community college where you belong." Jillian bit her lip; she didn't mean to say that.

"Where I belong, is that what you think of me?" Finn sneered at her. "Is that what I am a piece of meat that just happens to throw a perfect spiral? Am I just here to play football and inspire the alumni to open their wallets? Are you offering me a Mickey Mouse education in return for a chance at a national championship?"

"Finn, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to say that. It's just that your being here is hanging on your academic success, and I feel that I'm the only one who sees that. Before you can be a big football hero, you have to make the grades first. The athletic department has made that very clear to me. I thought that they'd made that clear to you too. I can't let you turn this kind of work in. It'll be an embarrassment to both of us," Jillian said almost on the verge of tears.

"Jillian, I'm sorry too. I have two hours before my class. Let's sit down and see how much of this we can fix if you have the time now," Finn said fighting the urge to hug the tearful woman standing in front of him.

Usually he handled crying or nagging women with a hug or a kiss. This time he shoved his hands into his pockets.

"Okay, we don't have much time, she said. Get your lap top warmed up and I'll start red inking your writing assignment, but this is the last time that I'm going to do this. I was hired to teach you, not rewrite your papers. Give me your other assignment and I'll meet you back here at 7:00 this evening. If I have an idea what it is about, we can start working on an outline."

"It's a free writing assignment," said Finn. "It's supposed to be about where I want to be in five years."

"Well this is a good place to start. Think of this assignment as a blue print for your life. You are at point A; now let's find a way to get you to point B.

-/-

Thank you for reading and reviewing, Whistler Nights


	4. Chapter 4 A Plan

A Plan – Chapter 4

(Disclaimer: I do now own Glee or any of the characters.)

Jillian and Finn finished the rewrite of his first writing assignment in time for him to make it to class. It was still flawed, but at least the mechanics were correct.

Finn had left the second paper with her. It was a free writing paper that asked the question, "Where do you see yourself in five years?"

The paper that Finn had written was mechanically all over the place, but Jillian read it a dozen times. During her free time she went to her computer and looked up New Directions and saw their winning performances at Nationals that were posted on line. Being a New York girl, she had no idea what a show choir was. With a little more digging she found some footage of the McKinley High Schools football games. Finn really did have a perfect spiral. Jillian was starting to feel like a stalker, so she cut off the computer, made a few notes in the margins of Finn's paper, and returned to her own class work.

At exactly 7:00 that evening Finn ran into the study room of the grad dorm to find Jillian waiting with his paper laid out on the table. When he first saw all of red marks on his paper, his face fell. He placed his equipment bag on the floor and waited for Jillian to chew him out again.

Jillian watched as Finn slid into the conference chair beside her. She saw his face grow dejected as he surveyed his marked up paper in front of him. Finn had come directly from practice and his hair was still wet and he smelled like shampoo.

"That bad huh?" said Finn as the disappointment spread across his face.

"Not as bad as you think," said Jillian. "Your mechanics are non existent but I can teach mechanics to you. Your paper does have a beginning, middle, and an end. You stated your objective in the opening and then went on to support your objective. What I did find intriguing was that this paper has a hook. So much of what is written today doesn't have a hook."

"What do you mean by a hook? Finn asked.

"A hook," explained Jillian, "grabs a reader's attention and makes them want to read more."

Finn blushed, "This paper about my goals was written from the heart, and I did spend more time on it."

"Well this is a start, and I'd also like to apologize to you about this morning. My outburst was out of line, and I took my frustrations out on you," Jillian said.

"What do you mean?" asked Finn.

"I'm here working on a masters because I haven't been able to find a job, any job, in journalism," said Jillian almost ashamed. "My student loans are piling up faster than I can pay them off and I've had to ask for student aid."

"When they told me that I'd have to tutor a guy here on a football scholarship I felt like giving up. Here I am with a 4.0 GPA and student loans that I'll be paying on until I'm fifty. You were given a free ride and all the help you need just to be academically eligible. I stereo-typed you as some knuckle dragging Neanderthal who wasn't willing to work as hard as I am, but wanted everything handed to him."

"I read your paper more than once; I misjudged you as a dumb jock and nothing more. I apologize and I hope that we can start over," said Jillian earnestly.

"I'd like that," said Finn, "I really do want to give this my best effort, but I feel like I'm starting the game late in the third quarter and ten touch downs behind."

"If that means that you feel like you aren't fully prepared for college, you are right, but I'm willing to do what I can to help you catch up. But please no more of this last minute garbage. I can spot it and so can your professors."

"If you have a big weekend with your girlfriend coming up tell me and I'll try to get the tutoring for the week finished before the weekend."

"Well, speaking of Rachel and the weekend, she's coming on Friday,' Finn said meekly. "I told her about you and your family in New York and she really wants to meet you since she'll be going to Juilliard in the fall."

"I'd like that," said Jillian, "but my boyfriend's coming for the weekend too. He's a grad student at the University of Michigan, but keep that to yourself. It's like he's in enemy territory when he's here," said Jillian.

"Now about your paper, I've found that goals in life are sort of like writing a paper. You have to know where you want to go, make a plan, and work toward it. Let's break your paper down into an outline or a plan. We can use your original paper as a rough draft."

The evening continued with Jillian coaching him on how to write a proper paper. Finn had so much to learn, but the by ten o'clock, a pretty descent paper was coming together.

Finn's days were all just alike, tutoring, classes, labs, and football, but no matter how repetitive his life was becoming, it seems that he didn't have enough hours in the day. Jillian was true to her word; she had made enough time to get Finn's tutoring done so he could spend the weekend with Rachel without any work hanging over him.

Every night after ten, he'd have an hour long conversation with Rachel. This was the only time that he actually allowed himself some down time when he wasn't asleep.

The weekend had been worked out. Quinn didn't have a room mate for summer session, so Sam was going to stay with her in her freshmen dorm and Rachel was going to stay with Finn in the jock dorm. Finn had been talking to some upperclassmen on the team, and they told him how to get her around the security and the RA on his hall. It was all set. Finn told her to meet him in one of the study room downstairs at his dorm at 5:00 on Friday afternoon. The front desk would tell her which one.

Finn kept looking at the clock in the study room. It was already ten till five and Jillian was going on and on about how to take lecture notes. At exactly five o'clock Rachel appeared at the door and saw Finn and Jillian sitting across a desk from each other going over lecture notes.

As Rachel stood there embarrassed Finn jumped up and grabbed her. Her twirled her around and then sat her back down on the floor with a kiss. Then he remembered that Jillian was watching this whole scene.

"Oh, I'm sorry" he said, "Jillian this is Rachel my girlfriend. Rachel, this is Jillian my tutor."

As Jillian held her hand out to shake Rachel's hand, Rachel was shocked at how strikingly beautiful Jillian was.

"I've heard so much about you," said Jillian. "I am so pleased to finally meet you. I saw your Nationals performance on the internet, and you have an amazing voice. Finn tells me that you're going to Juilliard in the fall. You're going to love New York."

Rachel stood there for a second before she knew how to respond. She had expected a beautiful woman, but she didn't expect her to be so friendly.

"Thank you," said Rachel. "Finn tells me that you're from New York and that your family owns a pub in the theater district. I'd like to meet them when I get to New York in the fall."

Finn stood there in utter amazement. He had feared his beautiful girlfriend meeting his beautiful tutor, but the two talked like they were best friends for half and hour.

He sat back down content to let the two women get to know each other. Then Sam appeared at the door.

"Finn we gotta talk," Sam said. "Quinn and I just had the mother of all fights and she has kicked me out of her dorm room for the weekend, so I'm going to need my half of our dorm room back."

"But Rachel's here, where's she going to spend the night?" asked Finn. "It's too late for her to go back to Lima."

Finn and Sam had forgotten that Jillian was still there hearing the whole argument.

"Excuse me gentlemen, but were the two of you planning on smuggling Rachel into your dorm room? You know that the jock dorm doesn't allow visitors after visiting hours. If your hall RA finds out, he'll report the violation to the athletic department," Jillian said coolly.

"Well what are we going to do?" asked Finn. He turned to Sam and Rachel and asked if they had any cash. Maybe the three of them would have enough for a hotel room.

"I know that we just met," continued Jillian, "but if Rachel doesn't mind, I have a couch in my room. She can sleep there for tonight."

"I thought your boyfriend was coming this weekend?"

Finn asked Jillian.

"He is, but not until tomorrow afternoon. Rachel can spend the night in the grad dorm, and you two can spend tomorrow together," Jillian offered.

Finn and Rachel were both disappointed, but decided to make the most of Jillian's offer. Rachel could check out the grad dorm tonight and the jock dorm with Finn tomorrow during visitor hours.

Finn spent the remainder of Friday evening showing Rachel around the Ohio State campus, but at bedtime he left her in the lobby of the grad dorm where Jillian met her.

Lying in bed that night, Finn was looking up at the ceiling.

He sighed and then propped himself up on his elbow and faced Sam.

Finn cleared his throat and then said to Sam, "If you and Quinn hadn't had such a big fight, you could be sleeping in her bed tonight and Rachel would be sleeping in mine. But no, Rachel is over in the grad dorm, sharing a room with the one woman that I didn't want her to meet. I bet they're having a pajama party right now. I bet they're swapping war stories about me as we speak. And here I am sharing a room with another jock."

"I'm sorry." Sam said. "You used to date Quinn; you know how mad she can get. No one is more upset about not getting some than I am. You and Rachel can have the room all day tomorrow, and I'll try to make up with Quinn. Just don't do use my bed; I only have one set of sheets."

"I'd not dream of it," said Finn with a disgusted look on his face. "Just remember, you owe me. By the way, what did you do to get Quinn so upset?"

-/- Another chapter is on the way. Thank you for reading and reviewing. Whistler Nights 


	5. Chapter 5 What Did You Do To Quinn?

What Did You Do To Quinn? - Chapter 5

It was nearing midnight on the campus of OSU that Friday night. Quinn was in her room in the freshmen dorm wavering between tears and anger. Jillian and Rachel were having a pajama party in the grad dorm. Jillian was introducing Rachel to her suite mates and the other grads on her hall. Rachel was in her element. Sam and Finn were wide awake in the jock dorm. Sam was trying to go to sleep, but Finn would not let the question rest.

"Listen bro, if you're going to have a day with Rachel tomorrow, you need to go to sleep and stop bugging me about Quinn," Sam said to Finn pulling his pillow over his head.

"I just want to know what you did to tick her off so badly. It is kind of like you owe me since my night with Rachel was ruined and I'm struck here with you. It couldn't have been as bad as the time you said Beiste's name when you two were making out? You might as well tell me if you want to get some sleep tonight because I'm not giving up," Finn said with his famous one sided smile.

"Okay," said Sam, "Quinn will probably tell you about it anyway. It's more about what I didn't do than what I did do."

"Did you forget her birthday or something?" Finn said totally enjoying himself.

"No," said Sam. "You know these papers that you and I are working on about where we see our lives in five years?"

"Yeah," Finn answered.

"Like a fool, I asked Quinn to proof read my paper for me before I turned it in. In ten whole pages, I never included Quinn in my plans. That's what she's so hurt about. Did you include Rachel in your plan for the future?" Sam asked.

Finn slowly swallowed before he answered. "Dude, Rachel is my future. Why do you think I am busting my butt here this summer? Last year when Rachel was accepted at Juilliard, I was happy for her, but I also felt like it was the beginning of the end for us. Then when OSU made me this offer, I felt like it was the answer to a prayer. Do you have your paper with you? Let me read it if you don't mind."

Sam went to his computer and opened up the file containing his paper. Finn read the computer copy of the paper slowly while Sam waited.

"I can see where she'd feel forgotten in your plans for the future," Finn concluded when he finished reading. "But this paper is still not due until Monday. You have time to scrap it and start over. Tell Quinn that the paper that she read was unfinished and that you were only talking about your professional plans, not your personal ones."

Sam sighed, "I have already told her that the paper that she read was the finished copy. And to be honest, I don't know if I want to be with Quinn in five years. I mean, I love her right now, but I'm still open to someone else coming along in the future. Her drama can be hard to endure sometimes."

"I know exactly what you're talking about," Finn remembered. "She was so intense when we were dating in high school, but maybe college will mellow her out. I think being away from her father and not being the queen bee anymore might help."

"Rachel was so intense that it was scarey when I met her, but she's come around. She still has her moments, but standing up to her and calling her out from time to time has helped. But Rachel wouldn't be Rachel without all of that determination and ambition," Finn said with a small smile.

"Well I'm wide awake now," said Sam. "If you don't mind my desk lamp, I think I'll start the rewrite of my paper now."

"Sure, anything to get you out of this room tomorrow," Finn said as he rolled over toward the wall and drifted off to sleep.

-/-

On Saturday morning, Finn was waiting on Rachel to come down the elevator at the grad dorm. When the elevator doors finally opened, Rachel ran out and into his waiting arms.

"Finn, I've had the most amazing night here in the grad dorm. I've met so many interesting people. Jillian knows everyone, and two of her suite mates are music majors and one is a voice major. They know some drama majors down the hall. We sat up in the common area talking until two this morning," Rachel said beaming from ear to ear.

"So you had a better night with a bunch of grads than you would have had with me?" Finn asked.

"No silly, I'm going to have an amazing day with you, but let me tell you about last night."

"Even though I'm going to Juilliard in the fall, Jillian says that I can still audit some classes here during summer school." Rachel said with even more enthusiasm.

"What does auditing a class mean; I didn't think that you wanted to be a CPA?" Finn asked.

"Auditing a class means that I'll pay to take a class, but I won't get any credit for it. Don't you see, I can be here with you in Columbus for the rest of the summer; I just need to clear it with my Dads, apply, and find a place to stay here in Columbus," Rachel said as happily as he'd ever seen her.

Finn's head was spinning as he was trying to take it all in. When he finally realized what she was saying, he picked her up and swung her around in a long kiss.

"Rachel, I can't believe it, you mean that you might get to finish the summer here with me. Finding a place for you to stay will be no problem. Quinn doesn't a room mate since hers dropped out. Stay over until Monday and we can go to admissions and student housing to get this all worked out. Why didn't we think of this before?" said Finn as he squeezed her tightly.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Rachel said. "I still have to talk to Dad and Daddy about it, and I have to apply to audit the summer school classes."

Jillian soon stepped out of an elevator behind them.

"I see that Rachel must have told you about our little pajama party last night," Jillian said. "I think that Rachel would really like the fine arts department here, and you two would have at least another five weeks together before she heads off to New York and Juilliard. Do you think that you can handle the distraction of having her here with you?"

"Oh Jillian, I can't thank you enough. I'll work so hard for you that you will think that I'm not just another dumb jock that you have been saddled with. I could kiss you, but I won't," said Finn as he kissed Rachel instead.

"What made you decide to do this for me, for both of us?" Finn asked Jillian.

"That paper that we've been working on, by the way it's due on Monday. Do you have the final copy ready to hand in?" Jillian asked Finn.

"What paper?" Rachel asked.

"Oh it's just a simple writing exercise about where he sees himself in five years. If he doesn't let you read it, I have a copy of it on my computer upstairs," said Jillian to Rachel as she turned to leave the two in the grad lobby.

"Come on," Finn said to Rachel, "I know a place down town that has the best pancakes, unless you want to eat in the university cafeteria."

"Let's stay on campus; I want to see it all. Where's Sam, do you think that he might want to go with us? I want to tell him all about our plans," Rachel gushed.

"He left when I did," said Finn. "He wanted to try and make peace with Quinn. He's been up almost all night doing a rewrite of his paper and he wanted her to proof read this latest edition for him. I read it while he was in the shower, and I think that she'll be pleased."

"I do hope that the two of them can make up today," said Rachel. "Jillian's boyfriend will be here later this afternoon so I can't spend another night in the grad dorm. The idea of sneaking into the jock dorm after hours is such a turn on."

"Well, we don't have to sneak in during the day," said Finn. "And unlike my room mate I have an extra set of clean sheets."

-/-

Thank you for reading, Whistler Nights


	6. Chapter 6 Come Saturday Morning

Come Saturday Morning – Chapter 6

(I do not own Glee or any of the characters.)

Finn and Rachel left Jillian at the grad dorm that Saturday morning, and Finn treated Rachel to her first on campus breakfast. When they'd finished eating, they found a bench outside and Rachel called her fathers to discuss the idea of auditing a few classes at OSU and spending the rest of the summer in Columbus with Finn.

Hiram answered the phone, but wasn't convinced that this was such a good idea. She could audit classes at OSU-Lima and stay at home. Leroy thought that is was a great idea, and would talk to Hiram about it. Of the two, Leroy was the romantic and Rachel had him wrapped around her little finger.

After the call, Finn escorted her into his dorm and to the elevators. As soon as the elevator doors closed behind them, Finn dropped her suit case to the floor and picked her up for a kiss that lasted until they felt the elevator stop.

"I'm sorry if I ambushed you with that kiss but I've been waiting since yesterday to be alone with you," Finn said as he sat her back down on the floor.

"My dorm room is actually part of a four room suite. The four rooms share a bathroom, but our suite is empty except for Sam. Since it's the summer school session most of the rooms are empty. Sam's over at Quinn's so there should be no problem with the bathroom," Finn said as he unlocked the door for her.

Rachel walked through the door and sat her things down by Finn's desk. She turned as he picked her up and placed her on his bed. Finn lay down on the bed beside her and began unbuttoning her blouse as his lips found hers.

Suddenly he stopped and drew back from her. "Wait," he said, "I've always wanted to do this!" He jumped off of his bed and ran straight to the closet. After rummaging around in his dirty clothes he stood up holding a dirty sock.

Rachel looked at him like he had lost his mind as she finished unbuttoning her blouse and kicked off her sandals and shorts.

Finn unlocked the door and tied the sock around the outside door knob. He closed the door and locked it behind him.

"What's that for?" Rachel asked.

"It's bro code for do not disturb." Finn told her as he pulled his shirt over his head and stepped out of his jeans.

Returning to the bed where Rachel was sitting, he slipped the blouse over her shoulders and unhooked her bra, discarding her clothing on top of his. Pushing her back into his pillow, he kissed her lips before trailing kisses down her jaw to her neck.

"Rachel I love you so much, you have no idea just what you mean to me," he whispered into her neck as he drew circles on her skin with his finger tips.

Rachel closed her eyes and whispered back to him, "Then show me who much you love me."

-/-

Finn left his dorm room to take a shower; leaving Rachel curled up in his sheets. When he returned he found Rachel clicking away at his computer wrapped in a towel.

"The coast is clear if you'd like to take a shower," Finn said to Rachel. "Give me minute to get my clothes back on, and I'll guard the bathroom door for you."

Rachel continued to click away at his computer before she stopped and asked, "Have you changed your password? I'd like to read the paper that you've been working on with Jillian. The one about where you see yourself in five years."

"Rachel, The paper's no secret, but if you don't mind, I'd like to keep it under wraps for now."

"Why?" Rachel asked. Jillian has read it; your professor is going to read it.

"Because when I get the paper back, I'd like to rewrite it in the form of a personal letter to you. A letter that I don't want you to read until you're in New York and missing me."

"Finn Hudson, I didn't know that you were such a romantic," Rachel said with her eyes growing large with wonder.

"I didn't know either until I met you. You bring out the romantic in me, but if the two of us don't get out of these towels and back into some clothes, I'm going to have you back in that bed for round two."

"As much as I'd like that," Rachel smiled at him. "I'd like to explore the campus and go by the housing and admission offices this morning."

"It's Saturday, they won't be open today," Finn said, "But we can go exploring. I can show you where to go on Monday and we can go by and see Quinn's dorm."

Finn hung his towel on the door and pulled his clothes back on. He stepped out into the hall and then checked the bathroom. No one was there so he waved for Rachel to come out of his room and head for the shower. He felt kind of weird guarding a bathroom in a jock dorm, but Rachel was quick and soon reappeared with her hair still wet.

They spent the rest of the morning exploring the campus around Finn's dorm. After lunch they found a map for the whole campus in Finn's orientation packet.

"Let's go and explore this part of the campus," Rachel said to Finn pointing at the map.

"Okay," said Finn, "but let's go by Quinn's dorm first and see if she and Sam would like to go with us. They've been everywhere and they can be our guides."

Finn and Rachel entered Quinn's dorm and had made it upstairs to her floor. Finn was just about to knock when Rachel stopped him.

"Look at the door knob," Rachel said pointing to it.

"I guess she liked the paper and they made up." Finn said with a grin. Tied around the door knob was a red and white cheerleader sock.

"They must be busy," Rachel said. "Did you bring the map? We'll just have to check out the other side of the campus ourselves."

Rachel and Finn strolled around the campus arm in arm until they came to a section called family housing.

"What's this?" Rachel questioned Finn. "I didn't know that families went to college."

"Rachel, it's for married students, or students with families to live. It's mostly grad students that live here, but it's open to undergrads too."

She smiled as Finn continued to talk. "You know Rach, if we were married, we could live here. There would be no more sneaking around, no more worrying that we were going to get caught by your dads. I wouldn't have to leave you late at night. I could go to sleep with you beside me and we would wake up in each other's arms every morning. That's, if we were married, hypothetically speaking.

"Finn Hudson, is this a proposal?

"No, it's a hypothetical question, but if it were a proposal, would you say yes?" Finn asked with his famous half smile.

Rachel's eyes twinkled, "Hypothetically, I'd say yes most definitely, but we've agreed that we have to finish our education first.

"Then I'm holding you to a hypothetical yes," Finn said as he pressed his lips to hers.

He spun her around and kissed her again before he said, "You know, all of this walking has made me sleepy. I think that I'm ready for an afternoon nap. How about you Rach?"

"An afternoon nap sounds great to me too," Rachel said as she hugged him as hard as her tiny arms could.

-/-

Sunday was spent with Sam and Quinn seeing the sights of Columbus and the rest of the campus. Dad and Daddy had agreed to let Rachel spend the rest of the summer in Columbus. Rachel made copies of her transcripts and her admissions letter to Juilliard before she completed the application to OSU for the classes she wanted to audit.

Hiram would transfer the money that she needed and Leroy would get her suit cases down from the attic. Quinn didn't have any Monday morning classes so she took Rachel around to admissions and housing while Finn and

Sam had classes and practice.

By Monday afternoon, all that was left was getting permission from the professors of the classes that she wanted to audit and paying her fees.

"I can't believe that you're going to be here with me, at least for a little while longer," Finn said as he helped Rachel put her bag into her car on Monday afternoon.

"My going to New York is really bothering you," Rachel said to him as he closed the car door.

"Yes, Rach, I think about it all the time, but New York is your dream and I'm not going to stand in your way. I haven't figured out how I'm going to say goodbye to you when the time comes, but I'm working on it."

Finn kissed her one last time before she drove away from his dorm in Columbus and back to Lima.

"Call me when you get home, I love you," Finn called after the slow moving car.

The pink Prius stopped and Rachel yelled back to him, "Not as much as I love you."

-/-

Thank you for reading, Whistler Nights


	7. Chapter 7 The Long Goodbye

The Long Goodbye – Chapter 7

(I do not own Glee or any of the characters.)

Rachel returned to Lima and packed her car for a summer in Columbus and her first taste of college life. While in Lima she ran by to see Carole who had put together a care package for Rachel to take to Finn.

"I hope that you've room in your car for a few things," Carole said to her as Rachel entered the inviting kitchen. I put together a package for him so he'll know that I'm thinking of him."

"Oh he knows that you're thinking of him," Rachel tried to say said assuredly. "Finn talks about you a lot; he's worried about you being worried about him, but he's glad that you found Burt and you're not alone. I'm close to my dads, but not as close as you and Finn. I've been envious of the way that you two are not only mother and son, but best friends as well."

Rachel hugged the older woman just as Carole broke down into tears.

"I'm sorry Rachel," Carole said through sobs. "It's just that it's been me and him against the world for so long. When his dad was killed, Finn was the only thing that kept me from losing my mind. And now when I look at Finn, I can see Chris in his eyes. I guess that I'm having a case of empty nest syndrome or something. Please forgive me."

"I understand, and missing your only child is to be expected." Rachel whispered as she let Carole cry it out. "I'm going to miss him so much when I leave for New York too."

Carole wiped the tears from her eyes and tried to recompose her self. "Rachel, I just want you to know that as his mom, I think that you're the best thing that has happened to him. Before you, he was just content and happy to float through school, but look at him now. He's at OSU working his tail off for you."

"For me?" Rachel looked at Carole with a surprised look on her face.

"Yes, you. Last year when you received early acceptance to Juilliard, Finn was so happy for you. But he felt that you were moving on. He knew that you were destined be a big star on Broadway, and he'd be the forgotten high school sweetheart. That all changed when OSU approached him with a chance to go to college and play football. He told me that this was an answer to a prayer."

"I hadn't realized that," Rachel said to Carole. "I've been so caught up in the idea of going to Juilliard and New York."

"I also want you to know that he loves you for you, not for your potential star power. He'd love you even if you never sang another note."

"And I'll love him even if the two of us end up in a rusty trailer in your backyard," Rachel said trying to hold back the approaching tears as well.

"This is enough of this," Carole said wiping away hers and Rachel's tears. "You two have a great summer ahead of you, and I want you to be happy. I've packed some cookies, toothpaste, underwear and socks for him. He loses more socks than anyone I know."

Rachel thought of the sock on the door knob, but only smiled to herself.

Carole offered Rachel a cup of coffee and asked her to tell her about the classes that she was auditing at OSU.

"I'm going to be in the drama department, they're putting on a summer theater production of West Side Story. I had to get permission from the professor to audit the class. Since I'm auditing for no credit, he's going to let me join the production now. They've already cast the part of Maria, but I'm going to be her understudy, help build the sets, and sing in the chorus."

"Rachel, I can't imagine you being anyone's understudy," Carole said sipping her coffee.

"It's okay," Rachel smiled. "This is giving me more experience in the business, plus I can help Finn when Jillian can't."

"Have you met Jillian? How's she working out?"

"She's not what I expected," Rachel smiled. "She's beautiful and smart, but not conceited. It was her idea for me to audit classes and be in Columbus this summer. I even spent a night with her and her suite mates in the grad dorm."

"Is she a good tutor?" asked Carole

"She knows her stuff, and she's not letting Finn slide if that's what you are asking."

"I just asked because Finn had mentioned switching to Sam's tutor who's a special education major. Finn said that he wants to be tested for ADD this summer."

"Finn's not hyper. In fact he's the opposite," Rachel said puzzled.

"You can have ADD without the hyper, but Finn thinks that he took the hyper part out on his drums. Looking back, I think that he's right, but don't tell him that I said that," Carole sighed as she took Rachel's hand.

"Don't worry Carole. Jillian, Sam, Quinn and I are going to look after him."

"Speaking of Quinn," Carole interrupted. "Finn tells me that you're going to be staying with her this summer. How do you feel about that?"

"Quinn and I haven't always been the best of buddies, but we're becoming friends. I hope to get to know her better while we're room mates this summer. She spends a lot of time over at the athletic department too, so I'll be seeing the three of them. Two jocks, one cheerleader, and one singer. Who knew?"

After leaving Finn's house, Rachel ran by Sam's house and Quinn's house too. Their mothers had packed care packages for them as well.

One last stop at her house to tell Dad and Daddy goodbye and she was on her way to Columbia and OSU. She called Finn who was in the field house and told him to expect her.

He told her that he and Sam would meet her at Quinn's dorm to help unload her computer and set it up. He couldn't wait for her to return.

At 5:00 sharp the little pink Prius pulled in the freshmen dorm's parking lot. Sam, Quinn, and Finn were there waiting for her. She passed out the care packages to the three and then as they all pitched in to carry in Rachel's belongs. As Sam and Finn were hooking up the computer, Quinn was helping Rachel with her clothes.

Quinn looked at the odd clothing assortment and said, "Rachel, you and I are going shopping. The Pippi Long Stocking look may have worked in Lima, but not here in Columbus and certainly not in New York."

"Wait," said Finn, "I don't want my girl looking like a sad clown hooker."

"That was Kurt that dressed her up like that, not me," Quinn snorted at him.

"I'd love for you to take me shopping; I'll buy lunch if you will drive. You know your way around better than I do," Rachel said to Quinn.

"Well I'm free tomorrow afternoon if you have the time. And while we are out, I'm going to introduce you to Victoria Secret," Quinn said placing Rachel's clothes into drawers.

"I heard that," said Finn with a smile on his face.

"I did too, why don't you get a little something, something for yourself while you're there," Sam said looking up at Quinn.

Once the clothes were put away and the computer hooked up the four went out for a bite to eat together. Everyone ripped their care packages from home open as they waited for their order. Finn was delighted with his cookies and Quinn loved her brownies. Sam was disappointed to find two sets of new sheets in his care package. Finn was still laughing when their food arrived at their table.

Leaving the restaurant, Finn turned to Rachel and said,

"I wish that I could stay, but Jillian will be waiting for me at the grad dorm at 7:00. I have another big paper due." I have classes starting tomorrow at 9:00 AM and I won't get much of a break until 4:00, but I'll be over as quick as I can shower and change."

"That's okay; I'm joining the summer production of West Side Story late, so I'll probably be there all day tomorrow. I've a lot of catching up to do." Rachel said pushing Finn up against his truck for a kiss.

"You two aren't very shy," Sam said to the two of them. "Kissing like there's no tomorrow right out here in broad daylight."

"We've a lot of catching up to do," Rachel said breaking the kiss for just a second.

"Finn finally came up for air and said, "I better get going or I'm going to need a cold shower before my tutoring session. Sam if you want a ride, get in the truck."

Quinn and Rachel waved goodbye to the boys and went back into the dorm to get Rachel settled.

Finn returned to the girl's dorm the next afternoon after practice with his hair still wet and smelling of soap. Rachel met him in the parking lot with a kiss and a hug.

"Thanks, I needed that," said Finn appearing a little down.

"What's the matter?" Rachel asked worriedly.

"Oh, I just got my writing assignments back, and I didn't do as well as I'd hoped," Finn shrugged.

"What did you get?" Rachel asked.

"I got a C on the short story, but I'm grateful for that. I wrote it in the back seat of Sam's Tahoe on our way back from Lima. If Jillian hadn't helped me at the last minute, I would've probably gotten an F. It's the paper about where I see myself in five years that's disappointing. I got an A on the mechanics, but a B- on the content."

"Is that the paper that Jillian wanted me to read, but you wanted to turn it into letter first?" Rachel remembered.

"That's the one," said Finn. "The professor said that I should've approached the paper from professional stance first and a personal stance second. I did it the other way around."

"I still want to read it," Rachel said with a smile.

"You will, when you have arrived in New York, but it won't be that copy. The professor put so much red ink on it; it looks like he opened a vein."

-/-

Summer continued at Columbia for the four small town kids from Lima. They hung out together every free moment, but there was an elephant in the room. An elephant that Finn and Rachel thought about, but didn't talk about. The day when their summer would end and Rachel would get on that plane for New York.

Before it did all end, the four went home for the Fourth of July celebration in Lima, and everyone came to Columbus to see Rachel's performance in West Side Story. She'd started as an understudy, but her talent had quickly propelled her into the role of Maria. A role that she'd wanted to play since her dads had first taken her to see the play when she was eight years old.

When the final curtain came down on the play, their summer officially ended. Rachel packed her things and Finn went back to Lima with her. They had a few days before she left, and Finn was determined to spend as much of those days with her as he could.

Her dads had packed most of her things and had already shipped them to the small loft apartment where she'd live in New York. Only the things that she'd take on the plane remained.

Their first night back in Lima was an extended family celebration, even though Finn didn't feel like celebrating. That night as he crawled into his old bed, he was worried and restless so he woke Kurt up.

"Kurt, are you asleep?" Finn whispered in the darkness.

"Yes, I'm asleep," Kurt answered him.

Finn flipped on the light and walked over to Kurt's room.

"Kurt, I'm so worried about Rachel in New York City. I've had this bad feeling about it for the last month."

"You're just upset that she's leaving," Kurt said half awake.

"No, it's not that, I feel that something isn't right. Being at NYU you're only going to be four miles away from Juilliard. I need you to promise me that you'll look after her for me."

"Finn, have you been to New York?" Four miles in New York is like four hundred miles here."

"You're still going to be closer than I am. I don't know if I can go back to Columbus if you don't promise to check up on her for me. I just have such a bad feeling about this," Finn pleaded.

"Have you told her how you feel?" Kurt asked now fully awake.

"No, I don't want to rain on her parade. I know that you think that I'm being foolish, but I just can't shake this feeling that something bad is going to happen."

"Okay, I'll do it for you. I'll move her number up to number one on my speed dial, and go by her loft every Saturday," Kurt said.

"That's all that I ask," Finn said.

D-Day arrived and Finn was at Rachel's house early to say his goodbyes. He didn't think that he could go with her to the airport. Dad and Daddy deserved the final goodbyes. His farewells were said in her driveway.

"Where's my letter?" Rachel asked him.

"I have it right here, but you have to promise me that you won't read it until you are in New York and start to miss me."

"I miss you already Finn, but I'll wait until the plane at least touches down in New York."

Finn kissed her his final goodbye and tried to convey his love for her in that one kiss.

As he backed down the driveway, Rachel called to him that she'd be back at Thanksgiving.

Blinking back the tears he called to her to watch the OSU home games on ESPN. Maybe she might see him.

Finn drove away slowly fighting the urge to turn his truck around and go back for one more hug, but he didn't.

He did go out to the airport and then parked his truck outside the fence near the end of the runway. When the plane bound for New York took off into the sky, Finn was waving from the ground as the plane flew over him. He waved until the plane was just a dot on the eastern horizon.

-/-

Until next time please keep reviewing. I know that my story if full of fluff and cuteness, but mystery and tragedy are on the way.


	8. Chapter 8 A Letter To Rachel

A Letter To Rachel – Chapter 8

Rachel's plane landed in New York right on time. She called her dads to tell them that she'd landed while she waited in luggage claim for her bags. The letter and the paper from Finn where tucked safely in her purse. She had rubbed her fingers over the letter all the way from Lima, but hadn't opened it.

Once inside her tiny apartment she called Finn.

"Hey babe, did you make it to the Big Apple okay?" Finn asked trying to cover the sadness in his voice.

"Yes, I'm here. My apartment's a walk up, but at least I have AC, electricity, and running water. The floor is cover with the boxes that my dads had shipped. I'm glad that my stuff was delivered here; I didn't have to carry all of this up the steps. There's a new computer here so I maybe calling you later to walk me through hooking it up. But on top of all of this, there's a package from you."

"I'm glad that it got there, go ahead and open it," Finn said.

"Okay," she said, I'm going to put the phone down for a moment."

Finn listened as he heard the rattling and ripping of paper and then a shout from the other end.

"Oh Finn, I love it. Is this your letterman's jacket that Azimio and Karofsky ripped in half?"

"No, Coach Beiste made them buy a new one for me."

"You couldn't have given me anything that I wanted more, it smells like you," Rachel said as she pulled the red and white jacket on.

"What do I smell like?" Finn asked Rachel

"Heaven," she said.

"Bring it when you come home at Thanksgiving and I'll refresh the smell for you. Did you open your letter yet?" Finn asked a little apprehensively.

"Not yet, I'm saving it," Rachel answered.

"Saving it for what?" Finn asked.

"Saving it for when I'm all moved in and I can snuggle up with it and read it slowly. It's like the last present of Hanukkah; I just want to savor it."

Finn cleared his throat before he said, "I decided to give you the copy that my professor marked up. It has a lot of his comments in the margins. Jillian said that I should give you that copy. I did write a letter to you to go with it. Read the letter first. It's not all that great, but I did get a B+ in the class. Jillian says that my writing skills have improved a lot over the summer."

"Just keep working; you're going to make it," she said trying to sound encouraging. "Finn, I've only been gone for twelve hours and I miss you so much. I'm glad that we had the summer to spend together," Rachel sighed into the phone.

"I'm on the road back to Columbus right now. I couldn't stay at home without you there, and I'm wondering what OSU is going to be like when I can't run over to the freshmen dorm to see you."

"Call me anytime," Rachel said. "As soon as I get the camera set up on my computer we can have live chats. I could talk to you the rest of the night, but I need to get this stuff unpacked and my bed made. Don't forget, I love you."

"I love you more," Finn said. "Goodnight, sleep tight. If you need any help setting up your computer call me."

Rachel closed her cell phone and put it on the charger. She took the letter from her purse and place it squarely in the middle of her little kitchen table. She knew if she read it now, she wouldn't get anything else done. It'd be her reward when she finished getting her apartment put together.

When most of her things were put away it was nearing midnight. It'd been such a long day. She retrieved the letter from the table and snuggled into her bed still wearing Finn's letterman jacket.

She flipped the letter over and slowly broke the seal. She pulled out a letter and a tattered essay covered in red ink marks.

The letter began:

Dearest Rachel,

If you're reading this, you must be in New York and missing me. I'm missing you even as I write this letter. As you know the enclosed essay started out a simple first writing assignment last June. The assignment was Where Do I See Myself in Five Years? Sam wrote that he saw himself as a Heisman trophy winner and starting quarterback of the Cleveland Browns. In fact, most of the other jocks had similar essays and they all made a better grade than I did, but I don't care. My paper was from the heart and where I saw myself personally. Anyway here is the essay. Jillian wanted me to give you the marked up copy from my professor. She says that he must have come over with the Pilgrims. He's that old.

I Love You, Finn

Rachel put the opening letter down and unfolded the essay.

She pressed out the creases with her hand and began to read.

Where Do I See Myself in Five Years?

By

Christopher Finn Hudson

In five years, I hope to see my reflection in Rachel Berry's eyes as I slip a gold wedding band on her finger. I want to marry Rachel Berry the person, not Rachel Berry the performer, the singer, or the Tony winner. Only three people in the whole world know Rachel Berry the person, and I'm privileged to be one of them. I would ask her to marry me now, but our educations, and preparations for the future must come first. To that end I'm blessed to be football scholarship student here at Ohio State working on an education that my mom couldn't have otherwise afforded.

All of my fellow Buckeye teammates see themselves going pro in the NFL. Becoming football legends that will one day be inducted into the Football Hall of Fame. I'm realistic enough to know that only one in ten college players are ever drafted, and only a fraction of that number ever achieve greatness. I'm aiming for that goal, but if it doesn't work out, I would like nothing more than to teach.

I don't want to teach the high school history class or the middle school science class. I want to teach the special kids.

I want to teach the kids with ADHD or ADD or dyslexia. The ones that really want to learn, but have been written off as stupid, lazy, or just not interested. Their desire to learn is there, the wiring in their brains is just a little short circuited.

I want to teach the kids that nature has given an extra chromosome to. They're the ones with all kinds of difficulties, but have the biggest hearts.

I want to teach the kids who have been shortchanged, have had one road block or another thrown up in front of them, but have refused to give up.

By the time that Rachel had reached this part of his essay she was sobbing. She knew who the people were that Finn had talked about in his paper, and the ADD one was himself.

She finished the essay and then went on to read his professor's comments in the margins. They went like this:

"You, Mr. Hudson are a hopeless romantic who hasn't lived long enough to taste the bitterness of this world. I commend your desire to teach, but let me be the first to say, "I Told You So!" You're looking at the world through rose colored glasses, and you're going to be disappointed. I don't know what kind of a football player you are, but if that doesn't work out, I suggest that you pursue a career writing those romantic fiction novels that you see on the shelf at the grocery store. I think that the vernacular term for them is Bodice Rippers. A technical writer you will never be. I'm giving you a B- because your mechanics are good, but you should've tackled your professional ambitions first, and probably should have never mentioned your girlfriend in this essay."

Rachel folded the letter and the essay and placed them back in the envelope. She placed the envelope under her pillow and then picked up her phone. It was too late to call Finn, but she'd send him a text.

"Hi Sweetie," she wrote. "Are you awake?"

To her surprise, the phone lit up with a text back from Finn a few moments later.

"Yeah, I'm awake, can't sleep, are you having trouble with your computer set up?" he wrote back.

"Haven't tackled the computer yet. Just finished reading your letter and the essay. I can't tell you how overwhelmed I am. I can see why Jillian was so moved by it. It's under my pillow now, and if you want to teach, then teach. You have had Mr. Schue as a great role model. Your professor's wrong." Rachel wrote back to him.

"Jillian thought that he was wrong too. Why are you up so late? Can't you sleep either?" Finn wrote back.

"No, but I have to try. Long day tomorrow. Orientation at Juilliard. A little more to do on the apartment like setting up the computer. Love you so much, will call tomorrow. Rachel," She texted back to him.

"Goodnight again, I'm glad that you liked the essay. Love Finn."

"I loved it! Goodnight. Love, Rachel."

Rachel closed her phone, set her alarm, and went to cut out the lights in her apartment. Standing there in the dark she heard footsteps in the hall. From the light of the hall lighting coming under her door, she could see the shadows of two feet standing directly in front of her door. She moved to look out the peep-hole, but the footsteps hurried away.

"Surely it's just someone looking for someone else's apartment," she thought to herself. "I don't know anyone else that lives in this building."

After checking the locks one more time, she slid under her comforter and tried to go to sleep, still wrapped in Finn's letterman's jacket.


	9. Chapter 9 Watching

Watching – Chapter 9

(Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or any of the characters.)

Rachel's first night in her New York apartment was a fretful one. After she had seen the shadow of someone standing outside her door the night before she'd been shaken. She tired to sleep, but she heard every noise that the old building made. Every foot step, every rattling pipe, every slamming door. She'd spent many nights home alone back in Lima, but this was the first time that she'd felt afraid.

Unable to sleep, she'd gotten up in the middle of the night and set up her computer. Finn would be so proud.

Dawn was approaching and she had dozed off. As the sun was coming up, she was roused from her sleep by her cell phone vibrating on her night stand. Reaching for it she smiled when she saw that it was Finn calling.

"Finn why are you calling me so early, I'm in a different time zone and at least an hour ahead of you. You've another hour to sleep," Rachel said hesitantly.

"I just wanted to see how your first night in New York was. I've been watching the clock waiting to call you."

She wanted to tell Finn about the figure standing outside her door the night before, but she didn't want to give him anything else to worry about so she tried to sound cheerful.

"My night was fine in fact I have my computer all set up and running," she said proudly.

"Couldn't sleep either could you?" Finn said shrewdly.

"I'm just excited to be here," Rachel said. "Turn your computer on and let me see if I have the camera hooked up properly. If I do, we can have a live chat."

"My computer's already on, let me get the camera adjusted," Finn said as he fiddled with his computer. Suddenly Rachel's image appeared on his screen. "I can see you Rachel, can you see me? Ahhhh! You are wearing my jacket. It looks better on you than it ever did on me."

"Yes, Finn I can see you, and thank you for the jacket. It makes me feel safe and secure. You look so good too!"

"Well I haven't had a chance to shave," Finn said running his fingers over his chin.

"I like you with a little stubble, it makes you look rugged," Rachel smiled.

"Turn your camera around; I want to see what your loft looks like. I want to see how pink it is," Finn teased.

Rachel turned the camera around so Finn had a 360 view of her loft.

"It sure is small, are you sure that it's safe?" Finn asked.

"It's safe; did you see the deadbolt on my door? I also have a fire escape right out side my window. I know that it's small, but the best that we could find this close to Juilliard."

"I still wish that you'd shared an apartment with Kurt, Mercedes and Tina, but I know that you wanted your independence," Finn remarked.

"NYU is over four miles away," Rachel began before Finn cut her off.

"I know" said Finn, "Kurt's told me more than once that four miles in New York City is like four hundred miles in Ohio."

"Except for missing you, I'll be fine," Rachel said. "Please don't worry about me so much. You've enough to do with classes and football. Now, I could sit here and talk to you all day, but I need to get up and start my day. I have orientation and then I have to meet with my counselors after that," Rachel said blowing a kiss to him.

"I'm going to have a long day too," Finn said grabbing her blown kiss and placing it on his lips. More of the upperclassmen on the team are showing up, and the dorm's filling up. We have our first practice in full pads today. So send me your schedule as soon as you get it so we can coordinate our live chats."

He blew her a kiss as they both said their goodbyes.

Rachel cut the computer off and headed for the shower. After drying her hair, she made her protein shake, and then gathered her things for the day.

She opened the door, and found a fresh pink rose waiting on the hall floor in front of her door. Beside the rose was a neatly folded note. "Welcome to New York" was all that the note said. It was unsigned and type written.

"Who could've left the pink rose?" she thought to herself. "Who knew she was here? Who knew where she lived? Maybe it was just her building superintendent or a neighbor trying to be nice and she was being paranoid.

She picked up the rose and went back into the kitchen. Finding a drinking glass, she placed the pink rose in water and left for her first day.


	10. Chapter 10 Please Don't Tell Finn

Please Do Not Tell Finn – Chapter 10

(I do not own Glee or any of the characters.)

Rachel's first full week at Juilliard was behind her and it was Saturday morning. She hadn't had any more roses or notes left at her door. She was gathering her dirty laundry preparing to go to the basement to wash it when there was a knock at her door.

"I'm coming," she called before she unlocked the dead bolt and found Kurt standing on the other side.

"Kurt, what are you doing here?" Rachel asked as she left numerous kisses on both of his cheeks.

"Back off Rachel, I don't need you slobbering all over me. I promised Finn that I'd check up on you every Saturday," Kurt said trying to wipe the kisses from his face.

"I'm just so happy to see a face from home, it's been kind of creepy here this week by myself, but please don't tell Finn. He has enough to do with classes and football without worrying about me." Rachel said.

"Well he's worried about you, and that's why I'm here. Tell me what has gotten you spooked."

Rachel went on to tell Kurt about the figure outside her door on her first night there and the rose the next morning. Her classes were going well, but she felt like she was being watched especially in the music library, but maybe she was just being paranoid.

"Rachel, I've never known you to be afraid of anything," Kurt said. "Did you see this figure through your peep hole?"

"No," said Rachel a little embarrassed. "I'm actually too short to see through the peep hole."

"You have kitchen chairs, don't you?" Kurt asked as he pulled an extra chair into the living room and up to the door.

"Step up on this chair and see if you can see the hallway."

Rachel did as Kurt asked. She stepped up on the kitchen chair and placed her eye up to the peep hole.

"I still can't see anything," she said to Kurt.

"Let me see," hissed Kurt as he pushed the chair out of the way and took a look for himself.

"Rachel, someone has turned the lens around so that anyone standing in the hall can see inside your apartment through the peep hole," Kurt said a little freaked out himself.

"What, how could this have happened?" Rachel said trying to remember her activities of the week. "No one has been in here except me and the moving men who brought my stuff up."

"Where you here when the moving men brought your things up?" Kurt asked.

"No it was all here when I arrived. My dads arranged for my things to be delivered up here since this is a walk up. The building's super let them in."

"If you have a sharp knife, I can turn the lens back around for you. You can't switch them from the outside. Have you reconsidered moving in with Mercedes, Tina, and I? We have room," Kurt said as he worked on the peep hole.

"No, I'm not ready to admit defeat. I want my independence, and if I'm going to make my living in this town, I have to get over my small town fears. Maybe the previous tenants turned it around before they left. Maybe it was installed that way." Rachel said trying to sound brave. "But if you wouldn't mind, I'd appreciate it if you would keep me company while I do my laundry. The laundry room is in the basement, and there's got to be mice down there."

"Have it your way," said Kurt trying not to annoy her. "But why don't you come and stay with us tonight. I'll bring you back here tomorrow afternoon."

"Why are you being so nice to me?" Rachel asked.

"Because that step brother of mine asked me to look after you, and I've the feeling that you may be my sister-in-law someday if Finn has anything to say about it." 

"Really, what did Finn say to you about me?"

"Rachel, he's crazy in love with you, and you know it. He's playing catch up with his classes at OSU and getting his clock cleaned everyday in football practice, and he's doing it just for you."

"I wish that he didn't feel that way," Rachel sighed. "I'd love him even if he were a beggar."

"He knows that too, but this is something that he's just got to do. Anyway, get you laundry together and I'll help you with it, and then you can spend the night with Mercedes, Tina, and I."

"Thanks Kurt, I appreciate it so much, but please remember not to tell Finn anything about this. I'm just being silly."

Rachel and Kurt carried her laundry down to the basement and with four washers and four driers they soon had it washed and folded.

When they came back upstairs, she tried to have a live chat with Finn before she left, but he wasn't in his dorm room. She left him a message before cutting the computer off and unplugging it. On their way out the door, she grabbed the pink rose from the drinking glass and threw it in the trash can along with the note.

Rachel did have a good weekend with Kurt, Tina and Mercedes even though she'd never been the best of friends with Mercedes. She told Tina and Mercedes about Finn's tutor, Jillian O'Malley and suggested that the four of them go out and try to find the pub that Jillian's parents owned.

Once they found the pub, Rachel introduced herself and her friends to Megan and Michael O'Malley, Jillian's parents. Jillian's little sister Erin and her brother Jack who were also there. Rachel was astounded at how much Jillian and Erin looked alike.

The first round of Guinness was on the house, and then Michael decided that it was time of teach his eldest daughter's friends an Irish jig or two in return for a song. Jillian had told her family about Finn, Rachel, and New Directions.

When last call came, Rachel thanked the O'Malley clan for such a good time, and the foursome headed back to the apartment at NYU. She would send Jillian their love and thanked them for having such a smart daughter who was tutoring Finn at OSU.

Rachel slept on couch at Kurt's apartment that night and had gotten the first good night's sleep in a week. Maybe it was all the Irish beer or maybe it was not being alone, but even the couch felt relaxing. On Sunday morning the four of them re-sang their favorite songs from their days at McKinley High School and talked about old times.

"I do wish that Finn could be here, or we could be with Finn," Rachel said as the afternoon wore on. "I had such an unbelievable summer with Finn, Quinn and Sam at OSU."

"Have you thought about transferring there," Kurt asked.

"OSU has a terrific fine arts department, but I do want Juilliard on my diploma just like you guys want NYU on yours," Rachel answered.

"The love of my life isn't at Juilliard. Is four or five years apart worth it?" asked Mercedes. 

"I've a better chance of getting my big break on Broadway if I'm here in New York. Finn understands that and he isn't going to get the scholarship deal that he has at Ohio State anywhere else but Ohio State. This is too big an opportunity for him to pass up."

"You're welcome to stay here anytime," Tina offered. "I don't think that I could stay by myself in New York. I'm lucky to have Mercedes and Kurt here with me."

"Thanks, but I'd better be getting back to my loft. I sent Finn a text telling him that we could have a live chat at 4:00," Rachel said.

"Let me get my door key, and I'll escort you back," Kurt offered.

"That isn't really necessary," Rachel said.

"I know, but I'd like to make sure that your apartment is safe and sound," Kurt told her grabbing his keys from the rack.

Soon Kurt and Rachel were headed out of his building.

"Please don't tell the girls about what's been going on at my apartment. Mercedes will tell Finn in a heart beat, and I'm sure that it's all my imagination," Rachel asked Kurt.

"I won't tell the girls, but I want you to put my number second on your speed dial right after 911. Dial me twice in a row if it's an emergency."

Rachel opened the door to her apartment while Kurt waited.

"Everything looks the same as we left it," Rachel said to Kurt.

"Let me look around just the same," Kurt said. "You might think that this is all your imagination, but if something happens to you, I'll have to answer to Finn."

Kurt had finished looking around when he returned to the living room and found Rachel staring at her computer.

"Kurt, I could've sworn that I unplugged my computer before we left yesterday," Rachel said more than a little confused.

"You did, I watched you do it," Kurt replied. "Rachel I think that it's time that you called the police. Would you like to spend the night with us again tonight, or would you like for me to stay here with you?"

Rachel called the police and a beat officer soon arrived to take her statement. Without much to go on, the officer didn't offer her much comfort. Maybe she did leave the computer plugged in. Maybe the rose was just a harmless gesture.

Feeling foolish, she insisted that Kurt return to his NYU apartment and then settled in for the night. She was late for her live chat with Finn, and she wanted to pull herself together before she talked to him.


	11. Chapter 11 From A Distance

From a Distance – Chapter 11

(Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or any of the characters.)

The beat cop's shoulder radio hissed and popped as he made his way back down the five flights of stairs in Rachel's apartment building.

"Yes," said the policeman into the radio. "I'm leaving the possible B&E call right now. I took the young ladies' statement, but I saw no sign of forced entry. She's a freshman at Juilliard and fresh from Ohio. I think she's imagining things. Small town girl's first week in the big city and all."

Watching the policeman pass, the watcher pulled back into the shadows of the stairwell unnoticed.

"How dare she get the police involved, he thought to himself? How dare HIS Rachel involve someone else in their epic love affair? It was bad enough that he had to share his beloved with that stupid Finn and that kid who discovered the peep hole, but to call the police on his innocent actions was unthinkable. How could she do that to them? He felt betrayed. He had only meant to love her from a distance, at least for now. But no matter that his reversed peep hole had been discovered, he thought. With his computer skills, he'd been able to hack into her computer. Now when she had a live chat with that dim-witted Finn, she'd be talking to him as well. Totally sight unseen.

Hacking into her computer had been so easy. Rachel's passwords were easily deciphered; she was so transparent, that her passwords were obvious. Child's play almost. With the computer link, he could not only be a silent witness to her on line chats, but if she left the computer and the camera on, he could watch her without ever leaving his building. He could be content for now to see her in person from the stacks in the music library. There'd be no need to risk being caught by the police or even to enter her apartment building.

He could watch HIS Rachel, and no one would be any wiser, especially the cops, that hated Finn, or even Rachel herself. When he was sure that the beat cop was gone, he left Rachel's building. He was anxious to get back to his own building next door and wait for Rachel's next live chat with that football fool. Cyber stalking had its perks.

-/-

Rachel washed her face and soon was having a life chat with Finn that Sunday evening.

"Hey babe," Finn said into the camera. "You're late; I was beginning to get worried."

"Oh I was just late getting back from my weekend with Kurt and the girls. We had such a good time with Jillian's family at their pub." Rachel tried to sound like nothing was wrong and hide the fact that she was still shaken. "Tell Jillian when you see her that her family is the greatest and that they send their love."

"You can tell her yourself," Finn said to the camera. "She's right here; she has a surprise that she has been waiting to show you."

Finn moved from in front of the camera and Jillian's face appeared on Rachel's screen.

"Hi Rachel," Jillian said to the camera, "I'm glad that you were able to find my family. I talked to my mom this morning and she kept going on and on about your incredible voice. Anyway, I got back from Ann Arbor this afternoon, and I've something to show you."

Jillian's left hand soon appeared on Rachel's screen. On her fourth finger was a huge emerald and diamond engagement ring.

"Oh my God," squealed Rachel, "When did Patrick pop the question?" Does your family know? I can't believe how beautiful your ring is! Have you set a date?"

"Patrick asked me to marry him the last night that I was in Ann Arbor," Jillian answered taking her hand down from the camera's view. I told my mom and dad when they called this morning, and no, we haven't set a date yet."

"I'm so happy for you," Rachel gushed. "I want details."

"I'll tell you all about it when I see you, but right now Finn is anxious to talk to you, so I hope to see you soon.

Bye now," Jillian concluded.

Jillian's face disappeared and Finn jumped back into the camera's view.

"Jillian's got to go, but she wanted you to see her ring. She and Patrick are going to make a house full of red headed Irish babies," Finn said to the camera loud enough for the departing Jillian to hear him too.

Finn and Rachel continued their live chat for about an hour after Jillian left, totally unaware of the third part who was now linked up to their conversation.

Rachel told Finn about Jillian's family, their pub, her weekend with Kurt, Mercedes and Tina, and even how Kurt helped her with her laundry.

Finn told her about going out with Quinn and Sam on Saturday night, but it wasn't the same without her. He felt like a fifth wheel.

"I miss you so much," Finn said to Rachel's live image on the computer screen. "But I miss our Saturday and Sunday afternoons in my bed the most. Talking to you live on the computer is the greatest, but I can't touch you. I can't wait for Thanksgiving. We'll have a lot of catching up to do if we can find some alone time away from the family."

"I miss you too," Rachel said back to the camera. I'm counting the days until I see you again. See I even have it marked on the calendar. We'll make up for lost time when I see you again, even if I have to jump your bones at the Lima airport."

"Rachel, please don't tease me. This is hard enough as it is. I really should go now. Sam's coming in the door right now, and I don't want to talk all sexy in front of him," Finn said as Sam pushed him from in front of the camera.

"Hi Rachel, it is Sam. I'm trying to take care of your boy, but he keeps letting himself get sacked at football practice."

Finn pushed Sam away from the camera. "Go talk to your own girlfriend," Finn said to Sam before he turned back to talking to Rachel.

"I really do have to go now. I have some reading to do before tomorrow's eight AM class in English Lit. We can talk at our regular time tomorrow. I love you so much, Finn said."

"I love you so much too," Rachel said to the camera before she and Finn said their goodbyes.

When he was sure that both Finn and Rachel had hung up, their third party cyber stalker hung up too. "This was going to be so easy, he thought to himself. They even tell me when they're going to be on line with each other again, and I don't even have to risk being caught by the police!"


	12. Chapter 12 Three Months

Three Months, Two Weeks, Four Days

(I do not own Glee or any of the characters.)

Rachel's second week at school had certainly been better than the first. There had been no roses, no computer or peephole mysteries, and no shadows. Still her unseen stalker watched. He was content to be a silent third party to the live chats that she had each night with Finn, and to watch her in the music library from the safety of the stacks.

Her classes were going very well; her professors were impressed with her voice and her range. She was becoming good friends with the O'Malley's and even better friends with Kurt, Tina, and Mercedes.

She still missed Finn desperately, if it were not for live chats, texting, and her cell phone she would have probably been on her way back to Columbus before the second week had ended.

Every Saturday was turning out to be the same. Kurt would come over and protect her from the mice in the basement as the two of the hurriedly did her laundry. The two would go back to the apartment that he shared with Tina and Mercedes. If Ohio State was playing a home game, they'd

watch it hoping to spot Finn or Sam on the sidelines. Being red-shirted for their freshman year neither Finn nor Sam would play, but they'd be on the field behind the team. When the ESPN camera would pan down the line of OSU cheerleaders, they usually saw a glimpse of Quinn.

When the game concluded, the four of them would head over to the O'Malley's pub for Guinness and karaoke.

Finn's weeks weren't much different. Classes, practice, and tutoring with Jillian. When the team was at an away game, Sam and Finn would usually hang out together since Quinn was gone with the team.

Weeks turned into a month and then into two months and then three months. Thanksgiving and Finn and Rachel's reunion were just around the corner.

Ending one of their late night live chats, Finn put his hand up to the computer screen to touch the image of Rachel's hand. It was becoming a ritual for the two of them.

"I can't wait to touch you for real," Finn said to Rachel's image. "I'll back in Lima on Tuesday night, so I'll pick you up at the airport on Wednesday evening. Burt's bringing Kurt's Navigator and will pick up Kurt and the girls. I'm glad that the four of you are on the same flight this time."

"Me too," said Rachel. "The four of us have gotten closer over the last three months. Do my dads have to work, is that why they won't be at the airport?"

"Nah, they aren't working, but Leroy thought that it'd be nice if I picked you up by myself. He had to talk Hiram into it," Finn said with a smile.

"Yeah, of my two dads, Daddy is the romantic. Dad can't face the fact that I'm not a little girl anymore. Dad probably thinks that we'd be all over each other, and he isn't one for PDA's."

"There'll be no thinking to it, as soon as you come through luggage claim; I'm going to be all over you. You should tell Kurt that there's going to be a lot of PDA's at the airport. Mike is coming to meet Tina too, and I know what Kurt thinks of public displays of affection."

As soon as Finn and Rachel had ended the live chat, and he knew he wouldn't be detected, their watcher shut down his computer as well. "Damn!" their unknown watcher thought to himself. "How was he going to spend four days without his daily dose of ease dropping on Finn and Rachel's most private conversations? Worse yet, she'd be in Lima with Finn and he'd be loving her. Finn would have his hands on her body, and she would be loving him back. His Rachel, how could she do this to him? How could she do this to them? Didn't she feel his love for her? How could she give herself to Finn time and time again when she could have him? Should he reveal himself to her now, before Finn had the opportunity to enjoy her again? No it was too early, it was too soon."

-/-

"I'll see you tomorrow Finn," Rachel said to the computer camera while packing her luggage for her Thanksgiving trip back in Lima.

"I can't wait to see you," said Finn. "I get hard every time that I think about you. How long has it been, three months or something like that?"

"It's been three months, two weeks, and four days," Rachel answered with a gleam in her eye. "I'd leave my underwear in my luggage if I knew that the TSA wouldn't catch me when I boarded the plane in New York. With the screenings and pat downs, I think that I'll wear my underwear home."

"That's okay if you don't want to go commando, I can take it off of you when you get here. I don't want some airport screener patting down my girl anyway," Finn winked back to her. "But we might have to have some car sex on the way home."

"Finn, you don't own a car, you own a truck, and I really can't do it in your mom's Mustang," Rachel reminded him.

"Okay, then we'll have truck sex on the way home," Finn grinned back at her. "I know the perfect spot to go parking."

Finn and Rachel soon ended the live chat and said their goodbyes until the next day. Their unknown stalker was filled with rage. He picked up his computer preparing to throw it against the wall and then stomp it to pieces, but he stopped himself. If he destroyed the computer, he'd destroy his link to Rachel. Placing the computer back down on the table, he tired to calm himself. Thinking about Finn and Rachel and what they were going to be doing to each other was killing him, but she'd eventually be his. He just needed a little more time before he revealed himself to her.

-/-

The plane from New York was on time, and Finn was waiting for the four of them to appear in luggage claim. He'd driven back from Columbus the night before, and had already gone through his welcome home hugs and kisses with Burt and Carole.

Finally the petite brunette came crashing through the crowd. Throwing her carry on bag down, she jumped into Finn's arms and kissed him deeply. He held her there for the longest time supporting her weight with his arms as they drank in each other. It felt so good just to hold her.

Rachel felt the tightness in his jeans as she pulled back from the kiss. "I see that I'm not the only one who's glad that I'm here. Finn Jr. is here as well."

"He goes every where that I go," Finn whispered into her ear, "and yes, he's glad that you're here too."

Finn and Rachel gathered up her luggage and made sure that Kurt, Tina, and Mercedes found all of theirs as well before they left the airport.

Throwing her luggage into the back of Finn's truck, he opened the door for her and helped her in. Leaning in for a long kiss, he reached under coat to caress her breast through her cashmere sweater.

"What are you doing?" She asked Finn with a smile.

"I'm checking to see if you really did leave your underwear in your luggage like you said."

"No silly, I have it on."

"Not for long," Finn smirked. "Call your dads and tell them that you've landed, but you're going to be a little late getting home. We have to make a pit stop."

"Where are we going?" she asked slyly.

"You'll see," Finn answered holding up a pad lock key.

The truck left the airport parking lot and was soon headed for the alley behind Burt's shop. It was dark and Burt had closed up early for Thanksgiving. They pulled up to the gate behind the shop and Finn jumped out to unlock the gate.

"Rachel, drive the truck through the gate, and I'll lock it behind us," Finn said as he jumped out of the truck and Rachel slid under the wheel.

Once the gate was locked behind them, Finn made his way to the passenger side of the truck and got in. Rachel immediately straddled him and the clothing started hitting the floor.

"Rach, are you still on the pill?" Finn asked as he kissed her neck trying not to leave a mark.

"Uh, huh," she nodded almost ripping the button off of Finn's jeans.

As the truck windows steamed up, three months, two weeks and four days of waiting was soon over.

"That was so amazing," Rachel panted to Finn. "The thrill of possibility getting caught is certainly an adrenalin rush, but it's been so long, I don't care if we do get caught."

"That's why I am keeping this old truck with its bench seat," Finn said as he hugged her closer and drew circles on her bare back.

After redressing and recomposing themselves as best as they could, Finn drove over to Rachel's house.

Finn cut off the engine, and then turned to Rachel. "You know if your dads knew that we're hooking up, all of this sneaking around wouldn't be necessary. They've got to suspect something after you spent the summer in Columbus with Quinn, Sam, and I."

"My dads want to believe that their little girl is still a little girl and I don't want to ruin the fantasy for them. They still believe that I spent every night in Columbus in Quinn's dorm."

"Well you did spend the nights in Quinn's dorm. It's the afternoons that you spent with me in my dorm room that I still dream about," Finn said leaning in for another kiss before he went around the truck to open her door.

Once inside the Berry house, the hugs and Rachel's reunion with her dads began.

"I'll see you tomorrow, you and your dads are having Thanksgiving and afternoon football at my house," Finn said kissing her goodbye." I'll leave you here with your dads now to catch up on the last three months. Come over early, and you can help me peel some potatoes or something."

He kissed her goodbye one final time and then started the truck for his trip home.

-/-

Thanksgiving morning and Carole had everyone up early. Kurt was assigned to table setting detail. Burt was stuffing the turkey and Finn was peeling potatoes. Carole's second batch of pies were in the oven. Rachel and her dads showed up around noon with vegan and vegetarian dishes to complete the meal.

After the big holiday meal was devoured, everyone pitched in with the dishes and then settled down in front of Burt's large TV to enjoy the afternoon football games.

Rachel had settled down on the couch under Finn's arm when Carole asked her, "Rachel I'm hitting the big black Friday sales tomorrow morning, would you like to go with me?"

"Sure, I can go with you in the morning if we can run by my bank. I've a letter that I'd like to place in my safety deposit box."

Carole looked at her a little puzzled.

"Finn wrote an essay this summer about where he saw his life in five years. I want to hang onto it and see where he is four and a half years from now," Rachel said to Carole. "I'd like to spend the afternoon with Finn since we've been apart for so long.

Finn leaned over to Rachel and whispered something in her ear. Rachel smiled and nodded as the two of them got up from their places on the couch.

Finn walked over to Carole and said quietly to his mother,

"Rachel and I are going over to her house and watch the game over there. Would you give me a quick call when Hiram and Leroy leave here?"

Carole gave her son a look and a nod. She knew that the two of them wouldn't be watching a football game. They'd be up in her room making up for lost time.

Finn helped Rachel with her coat and the two of them headed out the door.

"What was that all about?" Rachel asked him.

"I just asked Mom to give me a heads up call when your dads head home. I hate to make her a co-conspirator in our sneaking around, but I don't want Hiram chasing me out of your house with that shot gun of his. He'd probably ban you from seeing me."

"Even if my dads knew that we're sleeping together, I don't think that they'd approve of our going over to my house for a little afternoon delight."

"Well my mom doesn't exactly condone us having sex either, but she knows that we're going to find a way. Especially since you and I've been apart for so long."

Finn pulled the old truck into Rachel's driveway and soon the two were racing each other up the steps to Rachel's room and her huge bed.

"Wait" said Finn as Rachel reached for his belt. "No quickie sex this time. I want to make love to you the way that you deserve to be loved. If my mom can stall your dads we've got all afternoon, just like back at OSU this summer."

The afternoon had grown into evening when Carole called Finn to tell him that Hiram and Leroy were on their way home. Rachel had fallen asleep in his arms and he had been content to watch her sleep. Her nap had been fretful though. She muttered in her sleep about shadows and footsteps.

When Hiram and Leroy came through the door, Finn and Rachel were sitting on the couch in the living room, fully clothed, and watching a football game.

"I hope that they don't ask us about the game," Finn whispered to Rachel.

"If they do, tell my dads that we fell asleep. That won't be a lie. "

"You slept, I just watched you sleep," Finn nuzzled into her hair.

Finn said his good byes to the Berry's about nine that evening. He was glad to find that Kurt was at home and in his room when he arrived home.

"Kurt," Finn asked, "Is everything alright with Rachel in New York?"

"Why do you ask?" Kurt asked suspiciously.

"I don't know. She was talking in her sleep this afternoon about footsteps and shadows. She was very fretful and restless. When I woke her up she seemed a little afraid," Finn said with a worried look on his face.

"Did you ask her?" Kurt asked.

"No, I'm asking you. With her dads there I didn't want to bring it up."

Kurt remembered his promise to not mention the events of her first week in New York to Finn. "I think that she was a little homesick and anxious the first week that she was in New York, but she has not mentioned anything to me lately."

"I do appreciate you and the girls looking after her in New York," Finn said to Kurt. "I still wish that she'd chosen to share an apartment with you guys or at least have a roommate. I worry about her living alone."

Kurt didn't say a word as he turned to go brush his teeth. He'd given Rachel his word and it had been months since anything suspicious had happened at her apartment.

-/-

Carole was up early for the black Friday sales and picked up Rachel on her way to the mall. The crowds were fierce, but the two women managed to find a few Christmas and Hanukkah gifts, before they swung by Rachel's bank on the way home.

"What does Finn say that he wants to be doing in five years?" Carole said to Rachel.

"Pro football is his number one choice, but if that doesn't work out, he wants to teach kids with learning disabilities."

"Where did that come from?" Carole asked a bit surprised.

"Ever since he had his ADD diagnosed and is getting help for it, he's doing so much better. He feels that he can help other kids in his situation."

"Finn would make a good teacher," Carole said. "He has so much patience and understanding. I think that he got that from his dad. Chris would be so proud of him."

Carole let Rachel off at her house and headed home to pick up Kurt. They were going back to mall for lunch and more shopping. Usually Kurt would be helping Burt in the shop on black Friday, but his dad had insisted that he and Carole have a shopping trip of their own. After Carole and Kurt left, Finn headed over to Rachel's house.

"Hey babe," said Finn as Rachel opened the Berry's front door. "Mom said that she had a great time shopping with you at the crack of dawn this morning. What did you get me?"

"How about me?" she said with a smile. "My dads and I are having some soup and sandwiches for lunch. Would you like to join us?"

"Sure," said Finn, "Mom was in such a hurry to pick up Kurt and head back to the mall. They're going to eat there, and I didn't want left over turkey."

Hiram and Leroy took turns questioning Finn about football and his classes at OSU. Rachel just smiled as Finn fielded the questions between bites. After lunch Rachel's dads retreated to the study to finish up some paperwork for an ACLU case that they were working on.

"What do you want to do this afternoon?" Finn asked Rachel.

"I'd really like to go by and visit Mr. Schuster and see how New Directions is doing." Rachel answered.

The two of them spent the rest of Friday and most of Saturday visiting their families, and old glee club friends.

It was a sad parting when Finn took Rachel to the airport on Sunday morning to catch her flight back to New York.

"It'll only be three weeks this time and then we'll have a long winter break and Christmas and Hanukkah." Finn said to Rachel. "I've been meaning to ask you something. I know that I'm not Jewish, but if you and your dads don't mind, I'd like to celebrate Hanukkah with you this year. I like the idea of getting eight little presents for you."

"Hanukkah is more than eight nights of presents, but I'd love for you to join us. I think that my dads would like that too," Rachel smiled.

Soon they were calling out the boarding information for Rachel's plane, and too soon she was gone.

Finn ran by his house, picked up his laundry, and told Burt and Carole goodbye before he headed back to Columbus. Three weeks of waiting would be a lot better than three months, and he had eight little presents to figure out for Rachel.

When Rachel's plane landed in New York it was cold and raining. At least the city was beginning to come alive with the lights and sounds of Christmas. Even though she was Jewish, she enjoyed the holidays so much especially in New York.

Finally reaching her apartment, she was tired after carrying her luggage up five flights of stairs. Next year she would have to find an apartment with an elevator. Her apartment was cold and dark when she unlocked the door. Turning on the lights and turning the heat up, she was ready for a shower and bed. It'd been a long day. But something was different. Everything was exactly the way that she had left it, but there was a strange but familiar smell. She couldn't quite place the smell, but it reminded her of men's cologne. But whose? Certainly not Finn's or her father's. Maybe it wasn't cologne at all. Her apartment had been closed up for four days.

Sitting down at her desk, she turned on her computer and within minutes she was having a live chat with Finn.

In the building next door to Rachel's, another computer came to life. Her stalker had waited for four days for her to return and now was privy to their private conversations again. He hoped that the two lovers wouldn't rehash the details of their lovemaking. He didn't think he could bear hearing how Finn had been with her. Thinking about it had been bad enough. He'd have three weeks to love Rachel from afar before she left for that football fool again. He knew that he'd have to come up with a plan.


	13. Chapter 13 Eight Little Gifts

Eight Little Gifts – Chapter 13

Finn returned to OSU after the Thanksgiving break like a man on a mission. He was going to celebrate Hanukkah with Rachel and her dads this year and that meant a gift each night for eight nights. He already had gifts seven and eight figured out, but it was gifts one through six that had him stumped.

He checked his calendar and this year Hanukkah began on December 8th. His last exam was on December 11th and he wouldn't get home until late that evening. Rachel's last exam was December 12th. He was new at Hanukkah, but surely it'd be okay to give her gifts one through four the night that she arrived home from New York.

He had a lot to do and only three weeks to get it all done. In addition to eight little gifts for Rachel and her dads, he had Christmas shopping to do for his family, plus exams, and football.

Making a B or better on all of his exams was essential if he wanted to keep his scholarship and his eligibility. Even though he was red shirted for his freshmen year, OSU was still in the running for the Big 10 Championship, and they were sure to get a bowl game bid.

Gift one would be in the form of an "I owe you" for tickets for Rachel and her dads for his first QB1 game at Ohio State. He wasn't sure when he would be the starting quarterback, so the "I owe you" would have to suffice.

Gift one would also include an Ohio State sweater, for Rachel to wear to the game.

Gift two would be a ticket to see _Wicked_ in New York City. He would have to buy two of course since he didn't want her to go alone. The second ticket would be for Kurt. It would be Kurt's Christmas present from him.

Now he was stuck. Gifts three, four, five, and six were still a mystery. He would be seeing Jillian tomorrow night for his first tutoring session since Thanksgiving. Maybe she would have some ideas.

Practice on that first Monday back was a hard one for almost the whole team. The coach chalked it up to too much pumpkin pie and made the team practice an extra thirty minutes.

Finn's legs still felt rubbery when he reached the grad dorm that evening for tutoring. He was trying to concentrate on what Jillian was trying to teach him, but her engagement ring kept grabbing his attention.

"Jillian, can I ask you a question?" When did you know that Patrick was the one?"

"I really don't know," Jillian answered after a few moments to think about it. Patrick and I have been dating since the ninth grade and no one thought that we'd last when we went off to different universities. I mean, we aren't

even in the same state."

"Really, you've known Patrick since the ninth grade? I had no idea that you two went back that far. Rachel and I have been dating since the end of our sophomore year, so maybe there's hope for us too."

"Oh our first year apart was so lonely, but my parents kept telling me that if it was meant to last it would. And here we are eight years later and engaged. I'm not going to tell you that a long distance relationship is easy because it never is. Now, can we get back to your exam schedule and study notes?" Jillian asked. "We don't have a lot of time until exams start."

"I'm sorry Jillian; I'll try to get back on track. It's nice to know that a long distance relationship is possible."

"Possible, but not always probable," Jillian answered. "Now can we get back to work? I've my own exams to study for too."

Finn returned to his dorm room later that evening and was soon having a live chat with Rachel.

"Hi Rachel, how was your first day back?"

Rachel paused before she answered him, and in that pause Finn heard something. He wasn't exactly sure what is was, but he could have sworn that either she picked up twice, or someone else picked up immediately after her.

"My day was lousy," she answered, "its raining here and cold. I picked up my exam schedule today and I have two big ones on the same day. On top of that I'm missing you like crazy."

Finn was trying to listen to what she was saying, and maybe he hadn't heard anything strange at all. Maybe it was just a bad connection. He went on to tell her about how Patrick and Jillian had made a long distance relationship work.

In the background, the stalker was silently cursing himself. He hadn't timed his ease dropping just right that night. Had they heard him tap into their live chat? He had cut his timing to close for comfort that time. He'd have to be more careful.

The next few days went by quickly. Finn took care of his first two gifts for Rachel and some Christmas gifts for his family in between studying and practice. Jillian had suggested iTune cards for Rachel while Quinn suggested leg warmers. Sam thought a visit to Victoria Secret was a swell idea. He could do some shopping while he was there too.

Mean while Rachel's stalker was getting braver. In the music library he was getting closer. He waited for her in the stacks, but still didn't approach her. If he made no move, he could love her from a distance, and be a silent party to the cyber chats that she had with Finn. But if he made his move, she might choose him over Finn. Surely she could see that he was the far superior suitor in every way.

Or she could reject him and have him arrested for cyber stalking. She might even have him locked up for breaking and entering. But was it really breaking an entering when you had a key to her apartment? He thought back to the day that the moving men had brought her things to her apartment. The super was too busy to oversee the movers, so being the Good Samaritan that he was, he offered to help. He only ran two blocks down to the hardware store to have a duplicate key made before he returned the master key to the super. He'd so enjoyed spending part of the Thanksgiving holiday in her apartment.

After all he couldn't go home to his own family for Thanksgiving. They'd forgotten him. His only contact with them was a healthy check from his trust fund once a year and that came from the family lawyer.

His own family thought that he had become twisted, and wanted no more contact with him. He was now an embarrassment. But with Rachel, he could have his own family.

-/-

The weeks before the winter break flew by for Finn. The days seemed too long to be without Rachel, but not long enough for exam cramming. Their evening chats were very brief. Too much studying to do, too little time.

When he wasn't at class, he was hitting the books, or at the grad dorm with Jillian who was trying to pound one more piece of information into his brain. Since he and Sam were red-shirted the coach excused them from practice to give them more time to prepare for their exams. When the exams were over, Finn had made one A, three B's and one C for a perfect 3.0. His eligibility for the team and his scholarship were still in tack.

As he packed for home, he packed seven neatly wrapped presents into a box. Jillian had helped him wrap them, and made sure that the price tags were all off. He was still missing one present, but he would get that one in Lima.

Winter break would be over three weeks long, and Finn couldn't wait as he packed his things into his truck. He was going to make this the best three weeks of his life since he wouldn't see Rachel again until spring break. This long distance relationship was tougher than he thought, but as long as Rachel was willing to make it work, he was too.

Finally he started the familiar drive back to Lima. Rachel would be there tomorrow and he had a lot to do including running by Rachel's temple. He had to have a yarmulke to wear on his head for Hanukkah. He thought about asking her fathers if he could borrow one of theirs, but he just might need one of his own in the future.

The hours ticked away and soon it was time to go to the airport to pick up the love of his life. Once again she came crashing through the crowd of people at luggage claims and jumped up into his arms. Sitting on the floor beside them was a large tote that she had brought with her. It was full of small neatly wrapped presents.

"On Finn, I love you so much," she said as she peppered his lips with kisses. "But we've no time for truck sex this time. We have to get to my house before sunset to light the menorah candles and say the prayers and blessing. We're already four days behind."

"I know," said Finn as he pulled the yarmulke from his coat pocket.

Rachel looked at the white skull cap that he was holding in his hand and for a moment she was speechless.

"Finn, I'm overwhelmed. You've no idea how much this little gesture means to me. My fathers are going to be so honored that you did this on your own." Rachel said trying to express her feelings.

"You're going to be proud of me too," Finn said. "I've been reading about the menorah, the eight days that the oil burned for the cleaning of the Temple in Judea."

"Finn, there's no way that you could've given me a better gift for Hanukkah, Rachel said as she hugged him deeply. I'm so proud of you, I've always been so proud of you. Don't ever forget that."

They made it to Rachel's house in time to place the candles in the menorah right to left and to light the first five left to right. Finn was amazed as Rachel said the blessings and prayers in Hebrew from memory. He was still struggling with Spanish.

Rachel, Finn and her fathers soon sat down to open the small gifts. Her fathers had waited for Rachel to come home before any gifts were opened so a stock pile of presents waited.

When all of the gifts were opened, Finn cleared his throat as said. "I'm new at Hanukkah and its traditions, but could I give Rachel present number seven now? I'd like for her to have time to get ready." Hiram and Leroy nodded as Finn handed Rachel an envelope.

"Is this another letter?" Rachel said looking at Finn suspiciously.

"No its much better, go ahead and open it."

Rachel opened the envelope to find a lift ticket from a ski resort in Pennsylvania.

"What is this?" She asked looking at Finn puzzled.

"I'm taking you to the Pocono's for snowboarding," Finn said proudly. "I've cleared it with your dads and Sam and Quinn will be going with us. We've a two bedroom condo for two nights."

"But Finn, I don't know how to snowboard," Rachel said.

"That's just the point, neither does Quinn. Sam and I are going to teach the two of you."

"But we'll miss the last two nights of Hanukkah," Rachel said almost in disbelief.

"We aren't going to miss them. I've been reading up on Hanukkah traditions and I even bought a small menorah. Quinn and Sam aren't Jewish either, but we're planning on having our own little Hanukkah celebration with you in the Pocono's."

"Dad, Daddy, is this okay with you?" Rachel said as she looked at her fathers.

"Yes, Rachel," Daddy said. "Finn contacted us three weeks ago about his plans, and we've been working on this ever since. Who do you think got such a good deal for you on a condo at such a late date? Its actually the condo of one of our mutual clients. He owes us."

"Just remember, the condo has two bedrooms. I expect girls in one and boys in the other," Hiram said. "Just like it was this summer in Columbus."

Rachel and Finn had to stifle a smile, as they thanked Leroy and Hiram profusely.

Leroy hugged Finn as he whispered into his ear, "Hiram maybe from the old country, but I'm from South Carolina. You two aren't fooling me," Leroy said to Finn with a wink.

Finn blushed so deeply that he was afraid Hiram would notice. Yes sir was all that Finn could say to Leroy as he shook his hand and assured the two of them that he would take good care of their daughter.

The next day was a blur as Quinn and Rachel ran around Lima buying ski bibs, jackets, helmets, gloves, and goggles. They'd rent the snowboard and boots at the ski resort.

That evening the two girls had to model their snowboarding outfits for Finn and Sam. Finn had to laugh when Rachel came out looking like a round hot pink overstuffed ball with eyes. You look like a Christmas tree ornament, I love the helmet and the goggles," Finn laughed as Rachel hit his arm.

"Come on out," Sam yelled to Quinn. Quinn came out in a similar outfit but in Ohio State colors. "If Rachel looks like a hot pink Christmas tree ornament, then Quinn looks like a slightly taller red ornament," Sam howled. "If they fall down, its going to be easy to find them."

"Go ahead and laugh, but you'll never see what we have on under our layers of polar fleece," Quinn sneered at the two boys.

"We're just kidding," Sam said trying to calm the girls. "You haven't seen us in our snowboarding gear. We look like astronauts. Finn will be the black and silver really tall astronaut, and I'm the slightly shorter red and blue astronaut. But Finn's the techno one, he can play his iPod through speakers in his helmet, but I have a cooler board than he does.

All kidding aside, Sam's Tahoe was soon packed with luggage and gear. Sam and Finn's boards were in the rack on top and the foursome was off.

Rachel and Finn were in the back seat, while Sam drove and Quinn read the map.

"I've made several trips in this backseat," Finn said to Rachel as he nuzzled her neck. "But it was always with sacks of dirty laundry. You smell so much nicer than dirty laundry."

"If you two are going to make out the entire trip there, then we call back seat on the trip back," Quinn said to Finn as she tried to fold the map.

"Only if you learn how to snowboard," Finn said to her with his famous half smile.

"How about it if you two quit the tonsil hockey?" Sam said to his two backseat passengers. "You are fogging up the windows, and I can't see out the back window."

"Deal with it," was all that Finn said as he leaned into Rachel for one of many more kisses to come.

Their first day on the slopes was a sunny, but cold one. Sam and Finn were being very patient while Rachel and Quinn fell repeatedly on the bunny slope. By noon the girls were exhausted so they retreated to the lodge for something warm to drink while the boys rode the ski lift to the top for a long run down.

But the girls did keep trying and by the middle of the afternoon, they were beginning to get the hang of turning and stopping.

They did leave the slopes early so they could get back to the condo. Rachel set up the menorah in the front window and made the preparations of the seventh night of Hanukkah. Afterwards they made dinner and then settled in front of their fireplace for popcorn and marshmallows.

"Are we going to split up the bedrooms like Hiram told us?" Finn asked as the evening grew late.

"Yeah," said Rachel. "Quinn and Sam get that bedroom and Finn and I get this one. What Dad doesn't know won't hurt me."

Sam looked at Finn and whispered, "Just don't get her pregnant or Hiram and Leroy will know, and they'll kill you. But if they do kill you, I'll get your QB1 job. Ha-Ha"

Their second and last day in the Pocono's was much more successful on the slopes. Rachel and Quinn were riding the ski lift with boys and challenging them to race back down. They had many spills and close calls, but no broken bones.

"We need to get back to the condo in time for the last night of Hanukkah," Rachel said to the group who was resting after their last run.

"Rachel if you do not mind, Sam and I are going to be there for the lighting of the last candle, but then we're going to head into town for dinner and a movie. Finn wants some alone time with you," Quinn said softly to the smaller girl.

"But we have our own bedrooms, if Finn wants some alone time," Rachel said to Quinn.

"Just go along with it," Quinn whispered. "It'll make Finn happy."

Everyone hurried back to the condo, showered and changed. Rachel made the preparations to light the eighth candle of Hanukkah. Once it was done, Quinn and Sam disappeared almost like magic.

"Its just you and me now," Finn said to Rachel. "Let's get dinner over with and then open our last presents of Hanukkah."

Dinner was more left- overs than anything else. Rachel cleaned up the kitchen as Finn carried in firewood and built up a warm toasty fire.

Once they were seated together on the floor in from of the fire, Rachel gave her present to Finn first. It was a beautiful gold watch.

"Rachel, I love it. I've never had a decent watch. Thank you so much."

Finn set the time and put the watch on his wrist and gave her a thank you kiss. Then he dug in his pocket for his final gift of Hanukkah for Rachel. He offered her a small box.

She ripped the paper off to find what looked like a square velvet box. She drew in her breath in surprise before she popped it open. Inside was a small diamond ring.

"It's the same ring that my dad gave to my mom when he asked her to marry him. It's with this ring that I'm asking you to marry me."

Rachel's eyes and mouth flew open, after what seemed like an eternity to Finn, she leaped from her spot on the floor and landed in Finn's arms.

"Yes, yes, a thousand times yes," she shouted as she peppered him with kisses.

"I'm sorry that the ring is so small, but I feel that it represents a promise that my dad made to my mom that never had the chance to be fulfilled. Someday, I hope to buy a much larger diamond for you," Finn said as Rachel hugged him.

"Oh no you won't, this ring is perfect. I'm just surprised that your mom would part with something so special," Rachel said admiring the ring on her tiny finger.

"It was her idea," Finn said. "I don't think that she would've offered the ring if it had been anyone other than you."

"Well I have to call her right now and thank her for the ring, and thank her for raising such a wonderful man. Finn, this is the happiest day of my life. And then I'll have to call Dad and Daddy and tell them that you proposed.

"They already know that I was going to propose. I asked them for your hand in marriage when I was home at Thanksgiving. They just don't know your answer," Finn said between Rachel's kisses.

Rachel immediately found her cell phone and called her dads. Finn used his cell phone to call Carole and Burt. After the initial round of congratulations Rachel and Finn swapped phones and talked to the other's parents.

After everyone congratulated everyone, Finn finally remembered Quinn and Sam. "I'd better call Sam and tell him that it's okay for the two of them to come back."

"Did they know about this?" Rachel asked.

"Yes it was Quinn who helped Mom and I get the ring resized to fit you."

Sam and Quinn returned later to find Rachel and Finn still sitting by the fire. They were watching the fire's reflection as it danced off of Rachel's engagement ring.

"So she said yes?" Sam asked as he stuck his head in the door.

"Yes, she said yes," Finn yelled at Sam. "Get your butts in here; and close the door. You're letting in a draft."

Sam gave Rachel a hug before he said, "I'll be glad when he's your roommate and not mine. He snores and he's grumpy in the morning."

"Have you picked out a date yet?" Quinn wanted to know.

"No," said Finn. "I just want it to be in the winter. I want to take Rachel to Whistler/Blackcomb in British Columbia, Canada for our honeymoon. I hear that the snowboarding there is awesome. That's why I wanted to teach her how to snowboard."

"I can't wait," Rachel said through the smiles and tears. "I can't wait!"

-/-

Back in New York, Rachel's unseen admirer was busy. He was sitting in Rachel's apartment, watching Rachel's TV, and drinking Rachel's wine. The duplicate key that he had made was on the kitchen counter. Christmas would be lonely for him, but at least he would be surrounded by Rachel's things.


	14. Chapter 14 The Engagement

The Engagement – Chapter 14

It was their last night in the Pocono's and Sam and Quinn had said their good nights early, leaving the newly engaged couple to sit by the fire.

"I still can't believe that you said yes," Finn said as he kissed the top of Rachel's head.

"Well what did you expect me to say? I've wanted to marry you since the tenth grade when Mr. Schue blackmailed you into joining the glee club."

"I don't know, I guess that I was expecting you to say that it was too soon or something like that. You've always said that our education comes first and I respect that. I'm willing to wait until we graduate from college if that's what you want; I just want to be engaged to you and you to me."

"And that's what I want Mr. Hudson, to wear your ring and for the whole world to know that I'm yours."

"Well I've already decided on the where for the honeymoon, I'll let you decide on the when," Finn said kissing her head again.

Untangling his long legs from his position on the floor, Finn stood up and held out his hand to her. She took his hand and rose to her feet staring into his eyes the whole time. Without a word, he squeezed her hand before leading her to the bedroom that they were sharing.

The next morning Sam and Finn were up early, "Come on girls, this is our last day here. Get your stuff packed and in the car so we can hit the slopes for one more day," Sam yelled.

Finn stuck his head out the door and saw that at least six inches of fresh powder had fallen the night before.

"Sam, I know a way to get them up in a hurry," Finn said with a gleam in his eye.

He reached down and picked up two hand fulls of fresh snow and then ran to the bedroom where Rachel was trying to hide under the covers.

"You can't hide from me," Finn laughed as he rubbed the snow on Rachel's exposed feet. Quinn wasn't so lucky. Sam managed to get at least a hand full of snow down the back of her pajama top. After a lot of squealing and wrestling, the girls were up and wide awake.

As Quinn made her way to the bathroom, she looked at Sam and said, "You'd better watch you back today kiddo, because I always get even."

"I'm looking forward to it," Sam said to her with a wicked smile.

After wasting an hour cleaning up the condo from their snow fight and packing their things, the four were finally on their way to the slopes for a few final runs before heading back to Lima.

The news of the engagement preceded them back to Lima and a celebration was waiting for them. Kurt was a master at any kind of celebration. Carole had contacted as many of their friends as she could find and the party was already underway when the four arrived back at the Hummel/Hudson home.

"This is going to be the best Christmas ever," Carole said as she hugged Rachel and looked at her old ring on Rachel's finger. "First I have a son, and then a husband and another son, and now I'm going to have a daughter. My family just keeps getting bigger and better."

Finn and Rachel's winter break continued with more snowboarding trips both by themselves and with Sam and Quinn. They even managed to get Kurt to go and learn. On Christmas morning there was a long funny shaped present under the Hummel/Hudson tree with Rachel's name on it. Finn had bought Rachel her first Burton snowboard and bindings. Carole, Burt, and Kurt gave her the money for snowboard boots.

Winter break sadly came to an end all too soon, and everyone had to return to school for second semester. Sam and Quinn were happy to be heading back to Columbus together. Finn was going to spend the last possible second with Rachel before he headed back to the OSU campus. Once again the jet left the Lima airport with Rachel, Kurt, Tina, and Mercedes on board. Spring break seemed like a lifetime away.

As much as Finn hated to see Rachel leave, her cyber stalker was anxiously awaiting her return. He'd checked the flight schedules and knew exactly which plane she would be on and when it would arrive. He had his computer on and ready to intercept the latest live chat between his beloved Rachel and that football fool.

True to his calculations, Rachel was soon chatting with Finn on her computer. "Oh you are so beautiful," the stalker said to her image on the computer screen. "Soon you'll be mine, and you will wonder what you ever saw in your singing quarterback."

He was drinking her image in, when Rachel proceeded to hold her left hand up to the computer screen. Rachel thought that she was showing the ring to Finn only. She had no idea that her cyber stalker was seeing it as well.

"What is this?" he screamed at the computer before he silenced himself so he could hear Finn and Rachel's conversation.

As he listened he discovered that HIS Rachel was engaged. Engaged to that football fool! How could she do this to him?

Rage was filling his body as the couple continued to chat away unaware of his presence.

Rachel could have him, not Finn. He could buy the diamond ring that she deserved. One that was as big as her talent, not that dime store junk that she was proudly flashing before her computer camera.

Had he waited to long to make his move? Maybe it was not too late. If he stepped out of the shadows now and revealed himself to her, maybe she would see the error of her ways and tell Mr. Hudson where he and his cheap ring could go. Yes, that's what he would do. As soon as her second semester classes were underway, she would have to go to the music library. He would make his move then. Rachel would be his. He was sure of it.

Getting a copy of Rachel's schedule was easy for someone with his computer skills. He knew that she would have to use the music library on Thursday afternoon. He had taken the same class that she was now in, the semester before; he also had a pretty good idea of which reference book that she would be needing. Rachel's stalker reached the library around noon and searched the stacks for the reference book that Rachel was going to need. Thankfully Rachel was predictable. She always used the same table on the first floor to study.

Rachel reached the library at 2:00 that afternoon. Exactly as he had predicted from her schedule. He watched as she searched the reference section for the book that she needed. In her exasperation, she checked to see if the circulation desk knew where the book might be. The woman behind the desk checked and told her that the book, like all reference books, hadn't been checked out and that it should be there. Rachel checked again and couldn't find the book that she was searching for. Maybe it had been shelved in the wrong place. Without any more time to waste, she took the books that she had and went to her usual table in the library to study.

Stunned, she found the book that she was looking for. It was on the table where she usually studied. In fact, it was open to the section that she would need. Spooked just a little, she approached the book lying open at her usual seat at the table. "Maybe one of her fellow classmates had needed the book and had forgotten to return it. Yes, that had to be it," she said to herself. Glad that she had found the needed book, she sat down and quickly started taking the notes.

He had hid behind the safety of the stacks, but had watched Rachel's whole episode of seek and find. Taking the notes that she needed took about half an hour. He watched her lovingly, but grew angry when he saw her fingering the ring on her left hand. Every few minutes she would stop taking notes and would look at the ring and smile. This was only fueling his inter turmoil. As much as he needed to finally approach Rachel, he was enjoying this little cat and mouse game immensely.

When she had finished with the book, she retuned it to the reference desk. But before she left, she stopped and looked over her shoulder. She felt that someone was watching her, or maybe it was just her imagination.

Hurrying back to her apartment, she quickly closed the door behind her and locked the dead bolt. She closed her curtains and turned on her computer. There was a small chance that Finn would be in his dorm room between classes. She had to talk to him; she had to see his face.

No such luck. "Finn must still be on campus," she thought to herself. "Maybe it was just her imagination."

Needing something to steady her nerves, she went to the refrigerator for her bottle of wine. Pulling it from the back of the refrigerator, the bottle was almost empty. She had bought this bottle right before winter break. There was no way that she had drunk this much of it, especially while studying for exams.

Her hands were still shaking when Kurt answered the phone.

"Kurt, I feel like someone is watching me again." Rachel said into the phone. "I feel like someone has been in my apartment again."

"Did you tell Finn any of this when you were at home?" Kurt asked her.

"No, we were having such a good time with the holidays I didn't even think of it. I haven't had this feeling since the first week back in August, and I don't want Finn to worry since he's over five hundred miles away. He can't do anything about it but worry."

"Do you want me to come over? I have an hour or two right now before my evening lab," Kurt asked.

"No, you are busy. I do feel a lot better just talking to someone," Rachel sighed into the phone. "Will you be over on Saturday morning to help me with my laundry as usual? I can't wait to go to the O'Malley's pub and see Michael, Megan, Erin, and Jack. I want to show them my ring, and ask about their holidays with Jillian and Patrick."

"I'll be at your place by 9:00 on Saturday morning," Kurt said. "But I'll be happy to come now. I have to look after my little sister."

"Little sister!" Rachel snorted into the phone.

"Yes, when my dad and Carole were married, Finn assumed that he was the big brother even though I'm two months older than he is. When you and Finn are married, I'll be your big brother."

"I really like the sound of what you just said," Rachel sighed.

"What?" questioned Kurt.

"You know," she relied, "The part about when Finn and I are married."

"Well I can't wait for that day either. You know that I'm the official wedding planner. I've never seen such a love sick puppy." Kurt said with a happy note to his voice.

"Kurt, I feel so much better talking to you. I'm glad that Finn wasn't in his dorm room. I would have dumped all of my silliness on him and he would have just started worrying."

"I'm glad that I could help, but I think I need to tell you, Finn is a little suspicious. When you were at home at Thanksgiving, he asked me about shadows and footsteps. He said that you were talking in your sleep, and seemed afraid when he woke you up," Kurt warned her.

That evening when Rachel and Finn had their live chat on the computer she didn't mention the incident in the library or the wine to Finn. She tried to sound happy and excited about the engagement because she was.

The stalker watched and listened as the engaged couple went on and on about how much they loved each other, and how they couldn't wait to be Mr. and Mrs.

"This is so disgusting," he thought to himself as he ease dropped on the two love birds. He would put a stop to this. Rachel would be in the library next Thursday for sure. He would step out of the shadows and she would love him, not that football fool. Together they would throw that dinky diamond ring into the 'Hudson' River. He smiled to himself at his little joke."


	15. Chapter 15 From Out of the Shadows

From Out of the Shadows – Chapter 15

( Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or any of the characters.)

Warning: Mild Language and Violence.

Rachel's second semester at Juilliard was just getting underway. It was her second week back and on Thursday afternoon, she had to go by the music library just her watcher had predicted.

He would be waiting. Today was the day that he was going to approach his Rachel. He would step out into the open and walk right up to her, but first he had to go by the music store. He needed something to make their meeting perfect.

Rachel arrived at the library right when he expected her. She placed her things down on the table in her usual spot and then searched the stacks for the reference book that she would need. When she found the book, she sat down and proceeded to read and take notes. Rachel was deep into her thoughts when he swallowed hard, ran his fingers through his hair and approached her table. She was so lost in her reading that she didn't notice him standing there. He took the book that he had bought at the music store and slid it across the table so that it stopped right in front of her. Rachel looked at the book, _Lionel Ritchie's Greatest Hits,_ and then she looked up. "Jesse," was all that she could say at the moment.

"Hello Rachel," he said brightly back to her. "Do you remember me?"

Rachel was in shock. "What are you doing here?" she managed to ask. "You're supposed to be in Los Angeles."

"I was, but when your dear mother told me that you had been accepted at Juilliard, I decided to transfer here. UCLA was great, but I always wanted Juilliard on my diploma, and having you here is the icing on the cake," Jesse said smiling.

"How long have you been here?" Rachel questioned.

"Since last August, in fact I live in the apartment building right next to yours."

"Rachel's mind began to race as she began to put two and two together. Fear was beginning to take over her, but she didn't want Jesse to know that she was on to him.

"I see from your finger that you're engaged," Jesse mused. "I bet that it's to your singing quarterback, what was his name again? Finn Hudson, oh yes, that's right. I believe that he's playing football at Ohio State right now isn't he? I certainly hope that he can play football better than he can sing. How are you two managing so far apart?"

"What about your full ride at UCLA?" Rachel demanded disregarding his question.

"Oh I gave it up; my uncle is paying my way. Mom and Dad are who knows where on one of their adventures." 

"Jesse, what do you want?" Rachel asked trying to sound more angry than afraid.

"What I want is you." Jesse answered politely. "I gave it all up for you once before, but I walked away too easily. I'm not walking away this time."

"I'm engaged to Finn," Rachel said looking Jesse squarely in the eye.

"Oh that's just a technicality for now. He is five hundred miles away in Columbus, Ohio and I'm here with you. By the time we've both graduated from Juilliard, you'll have seen the error of your ways and will realize that I'm the only man for you."

"Jesse, I think that you should leave," Rachel said firmly.

"For now I will, but I do intend to win you back," Jesse said as he turned to leave. "In time you'll see that we were made for each other."

Rachel was on the verge of hyperventiling as she watched Jesse leave. Grabbing her things, she tried to leave the library as calmly as she could, but her knees were shaking.

Once inside the women's bathroom of the building next door, she reached for her cell phone and called Finn.

"Please pick up, please pick up," Rachel begged as his phone rang repeatedly.

"Hello, is that you Rachel?" Finn asked when he finally answered.

"Yes it's me. Finn, he's here. Here in New York."

"Who's in New York?" Finn puzzled.

"Jesse is here." Rachel said almost in a panic.

"Why is he there? He's supposed to be at UCLA."

"He says that he has come back for me, he has been here since August. Finn, I haven't told you everything, but I think that he has been watching me. He knows things that he shouldn't know, and he's living in the building right next door to mine."

Finn's blood was beginning to boil. "Rachel, get out of there. Don't go back to your apartment. Take four or five taxis if you have too, but go to Kurt's. I'll call him and tell him that you're on your way, and then I'm calling the police. I'll be on the next plane to New York."

"No Finn, he didn't threaten me, in fact he was polite. I'm going to go to Kurt's for now, so you don't need to get on a plane. I'm just shaken and surprised that he's here."

"I'm still going to call the police," Finn fumed.

"And tell them what? That an old flame has reappeared and declared his love for me? We can't prove that he has been stalking me."

"Okay, have it your way, but get to Kurt's as fast as you can, and call me when you get there. I'm calling Kurt right now."

-/-

Kurt was waiting outside his apartment when Rachel arrived. He hurried her upstairs where Mercedes and Tina were waiting for the two of them.

As soon as she was safely upstairs, she called Finn on Kurt's phone. He had calmed down, but he still wanted to fly to New York to beat the crap out of Jessie.

Over the next hour Rachel told Kurt, Tina, and Mercedes about the rose, the flipped peep hole, the plugged in computer, the smell of men's cologne, the almost empty wine bottle, the mysterious textbook in the library, and the feeling that someone had been in her apartment. She told them everything that Jesse had told her, and how there was no way that he could've known all of those details.

Kurt listened carefully trying to put all of the pieces together.

"Rachel, do you remember the Sunday night when I took you back to your apartment after your first week in New York?" Kurt said to her. "Your computer was plugged in, and I know that I saw you unplug it the day before. Do you still have that camera attached to your computer?"

Rachel nodded, "Finn and I have a live chat every night."

"I don't mean to scare you, but I think that your computer may have been hacked, and when you were on line with Finn, you were on line with Jesse too. I'm going to call Artie and Mike at Carnegie/Mellon to see if this is technically possible and how you would go about doing it. You need to email your professors on my computer and tell them that you're sick and won't be in class for a few days."

Rachel began to actually feel sick as she thought of all of the intimate conversations that she had with Finn over the last six months. Had Jesse heard the things that were meant for Finn only?

"What am I going to do for clothes?" Rachel finally asked.

"You can wear some of mine," said Tina. Mercedes and I can go shopping for anything that you need or we can go to your apartment for your books and stuff.

"You're going to be safe here with us," Kurt said, "I promised Finn that I'd look after you, and that's exactly what I'm going to do."

"Yeah, my brother's Louisville Slugger is beside the front door. Feel free to use it anytime." Mercedes said trying to lighten the mood.

"Thanks guys, all of you, I don't know what I'd do without you," Rachel said as she sat down on their couch and pulled a throw over herself closely.

-/-

Two days had passed and Rachel hadn't left Kurt and the girl's apartment. Her professors were sending her assignments to her on Kurt's computer, but she needed her books and her things from her apartment. It was Saturday and she had only missed one actual class day. Maybe by Monday she could go back to class.

Each night Jesse waited for Rachel and Finn's live chat, but it didn't come. Had he spooked her, had she figured out his connection to her private conversations? He knew where she lived, so maybe it was time for a visit. Maybe he needed to show her that he was a man of good intentions and not a monster or a stalker or something sinister like that.

Jesse was just about to leave his apartment building when he recognized Tina and Mercedes as they got out of a taxi. He remembered them from his short stint in New Directions. What were they doing in New York? Maybe they knew where Rachel was? He decided to follow them and they led him straight to Rachel's old apartment.

He once again hid in the shadows as he saw Tina and Mercedes leave Rachel's apartment with text books and arm loads of her clothes.

After they left, he pulled out his spare key to Rachel's apartment and let himself inside. The place looked like she was moving out. Most of her things were gone, but the large desk top computer was still in place. The camera had been disconnected.

Jessie ran down the steps to the front door of the building to see Mercedes and Tina loading Rachel's belongings into a waiting taxi. Being careful to not be seen, Jesse hailed another taxi himself and followed them back to the NYU area. He watched as they unloaded Rachel's things from the taxi and went into an apartment building.

Jesse was afraid that he'd be seen if he followed them into the building, but with his computer skills, he was confident that he could find out where they were going. It angered him that Rachel was trying to elude him, but he would find her. He hadn't come this far to give up now. Why could she not see what so plain to him? They were meant to be together.

It was Sunday morning and Rachel was feeling more at ease. She appreciated that Tina and Mercedes had gone after some of her belongs, but Kurt was annoyed that they had gone over there in the first place.

After a lot of discussion, Tina, Kurt, and Mercedes decided that the three of them would make one final trip to Rachel's apartment that afternoon and get the last of her things.

"What about my desk top computer?" Rachel asked.

"I think that we should leave it there," Mercedes said and Tina agreed.

"After talking with Artie, we're going to need that computer if we should have to prove a case of stalking against Jesse." Kurt said. "I'll call Jack O'Malley and see if he can meet us this afternoon at Rachel's old apartment. It's going to be heavy lifting getting that desk top computer down five flights of steps. Rachel, will you be okay here by yourself? I can ask Erin O'Malley to come over and stay with you."

"I'm not a baby," Rachel protested. "I do have to go back to Juilliard sometime, and I'm going to run into Jesse on campus. I'll be fine; Jesse doesn't know where I'm living now and my computer is shut down."

"Okay," said Kurt. "I know how much you value your independence, but put my number on your speed dial. We'll be back with your things as quickly as possible."

Kurt called Jack O'Malley and arranged to meet him. Jack had a truck, and it would make moving that computer easier.

Kurt and the girls soon left and Rachel locked the dead bolt behind them. They were hailing a taxi on the street when Jesse saw them from his approaching taxi and told his driver to let him out on a side street.

When he knew that Kurt and the girls were gone, he made his way up to the apartment that they shared. Ringing the door bell and stepping out of the peep hole's view, he heard footsteps coming to answer the door.

"Kurt, did you forget your key or something?" Rachel called from inside the apartment.

"Bingo," thought Jesse. "She's here!"

"I knew that you'd forget something," Rachel said as she flung the door open.

In sheer panic Rachel froze as she was now standing face to face with Jesse. He pushed her back inside the apartment and locked the doorknob behind them. As he was locking the deadbolt, Rachel turned and reached inside her pocket to press Kurt's number on speed dial.

Kurt heard his phone ring and was about to say hello, when he heard screaming and arguing on the other end.

"We've got to get back to the apartment, Kurt said to Mercedes and Tina. Jesse's there with Rachel and she's in trouble. Driver, please turn this taxi around and take us back to where you picked us up, and please hurry." Tina was already calling the police.

Jesse was trying to calm Rachel as she was backing up. "I'm not here to hurt you," Jesse said sweetly to her. "I just don't know why you ran, why you're moving four miles from Juilliard. I'm here now. We can be together. Don't you remember how it was between us when we were both at McKinley?"

"You aren't the same person you were in high school, something in you has snapped," Rachel said trembling.

"I haven't snapped!" Jesse screamed at her. "You and my parents both think that something is wrong with me! Only my uncle understands me! I'm not crazy! If you didn't have to run off with that Finn Hudson, none of this would be happening! You and I would be together, what does your singing quarterback have that I do not have? Please Rachel; sing for me and me alone."

"I'm engaged to Finn, I want to be with Finn. I'll never love you, I'll never sing for you," Rachel said as she eyed the baseball bat beside the door.

"If you won't sing for me, than you won't sing for that football fool," Jesse screamed as he lunged for her knocking her to the floor, choking her with both hands.

Rachel was fighting him with both fists, but he had his weight on her chest and his hands on her throat. She was nearing blacking out when she heard the door unlock and Kurt and Tina rush in. They were on Jesse's back trying to pry him off of her, but Jesse was so enraged that their efforts were useless.

Mercedes ran through the door and saw that Rachel was down and Kurt and Tina were powerless to stop Jesse.

"Hell no," Mercedes screamed as she went for the baseball bat. Jesse turned to see her just as the baseball bat made a glancing blow with his face. Teeth, blood and spit flew. Jesse fell to the floor beside Rachel's now unconscious body.

"Is he dead?" Tina screamed.

"I don't think so," Mercedes said as she placed the spike heel of her boot firmly on Jesse's chest. "I do think that I messed up his pretty boy face."

The police ran in and saw that Mercedes had everything under control. She still held the bloody bat over Jesse who was coming to.

The paramedics were immediately behind the police and soon had Rachel on her way to the hospital and Jesse on his way to the psych ward at Belleview hospital in cuffs.

Finn was studying with Jillian in the grad dorm when Kurt called him.

"Finn, you need to catch the next plane to New York, Rachel's been attached," Kurt said into the phone almost crying.

"What happened?" Finn screamed into the phone. "Was it Jesse? Did he kill her? Did he rape her?"

"Yes, it was Jesse, we thought that he couldn't get to her, but he did. Rachel's alive, and no he did not rape her. But in Rachel's case, a rape might have been more humane.

"What could be less humane than a rape?" Finn roared back.

"Finn, he crushed her vocal cords. Rachel may never speak or sing again."

Finn called the airport from the grad dorm and made a reservation for the next flight to New York.

"I'm going with you," said Jillian. "I know my way around town, and my parents know some detectives and policemen on the force. You really don't need to be alone right now."

Finn didn't argue with her. While they waited to board the plane she called Sam and told him what had happened. She asked him to get in touch with both of their professors and explain what had happened and where they were.

Finn didn't speak during the entire flight to New York. He was numb and Jillian was glad that she had come along. Jillian's parents met them at the airport and quickly took them to the hospital where Rachel was.

Rachel was awake when Finn walked through her hospital room door. She was surrounded by Kurt, Tina, and Mercedes who still had blood spatters on their clothing from fighting off Jesse.

"Baby, I'm so sorry that I wasn't here for you," Finn sobbed as he went to Rachel's bedside. He hugged her tightly for the longest and Rachel hugged him back, but only silent tears came from her. Finn sat back and looked at the damage. Jesse's handprints were clearly visible on either side of her neck. She smiled at him, but when she tried to speak, only a raspy rattle came out.

"Don't try to speak baby," he said sobbing into her shoulder. "You're alive and that's all that matters to me."

"Do you know what happened?" Finn said turning to Kurt.

"Not all of it," said Kurt. "But I recorded the fight on my cell phone when Rachel called me for help. The police have it now. They also have both Rachel's and Jesse's computers. The police found a duplicate key to Rachel's apartment on Jesse's key ring."

"Whose blood is spattered on the three of you?" Finn asked.

"That would be Jesse's. Mercedes smashed his face with a baseball bat," Kurt answered.

"Where is that son of a bitch? I need to finish the job," Finn said clenching his fists.

"The police have him chained to a bed over at the psych ward at Belleview. With the fight recorded on my phone, it shouldn't be a problem getting a conviction if he's ever sane enough to stand trial," Kurt said rubbing Finn's shoulders.

Finn climbed onto the hospital bed next to Rachel and wrapped his arm around her.

"You guys can go home and get that bastard's blood off of you," Finn said to Kurt. "I've got this now."

"We can't go home right now," Tina said. "Our apartment is a crime scene, but we're going home with the O'Malley's."

Finn looked at Jillian who had been quiet the whole time.

"Thanks Jillian for coming with me, and thank your family too."

When it was just Finn and Rachel, he held her tightly and tried his best not to cry. Sometime around midnight Hiram and Leroy arrived to find Rachel sleeping with Finn sitting beside her on her hospital bed. She finally felt safe enough to drift off to sleep. Finn slowly unwrapped his arm from her and got off of the bed leading Hiram and Leroy out into the hall. He told her dads all that he knew about what had happened. Hopefully, the doctors and the police would have more news in the morning.

-/-

It is not over yet! Please keep reading and I appreciate all of your kind reviews. Jesse's trial is on the way!

Thank you, Whistler Nights


	16. Chapter 16 The Long Road Back

The Long Road Back – Chapter 16

(I do not own Glee or any of the characters.)

Rachel slept fitfully her first night in the hospital even though she had been sedated. When she did manage to go off to sleep, she would wake up trying to scream her way out of the nightmares, but no sound would come from her damaged vocal chords. Finn would rock her back to sleep while her dads held her hand.

Kurt was at the hospital the next morning. He had brought Rachel a bouquet of sunflowers and a small white board. In his pocket were several dry erase markers and an eraser.

"Finn, you're tired, here are the directions to the O'Malley's house. They're expecting you and Rachel's dads for a meal and some sleep. I'll stay with her, and Mercedes and Tina are right behind me," Kurt said to his big brother.

"I'm not leaving her," Finn said without taking his eyes off of her sleeping form. The bruises on her neck were darker now. Two very distinct purple handprints were very visible on either side of her neck.

"Mercedes, Tina, or I'll be with her. We have worked out our class schedule so someone will be here all day today." Kurt said. "We aren't going to know anything else until the doctors or the police come by and that won't be for awhile. If you won't go over to the O'Malley's at least go down to the hospital cafeteria."

Rachel was beginning to stir, and tried to talk.

"Don't try to speak baby," Finn said to her. "Kurt brought a white board for you if you would like to tell us something. Your throat needs time to heal."

Rachel took the white board and wrote, "Finn, Please take Dad and Daddy over to the O'Malley's for some rest. Kurt's here now."

Finn read her message and smiled his half smile, "Okay, if that's what you want, but Hiram, Leroy, and I'd like to wait for the doctor to come by first."

Rachel nodded

A New York City Police Department detective was the first to stop by.

"Hello," the detective said to all of them. "I'm Detective Pete Carter; I was assigned to your case last night. Miss Berry, we have your assailant handcuffed to a bed at Belleview Hospital with a policeman stationed outside his room. There's no way that he can hurt you, so please don't be afraid."

"We're going to charge Mr. St. James with assault with intent to kill resulting with serious bodily harm, when he's deemed fit to stand trial. I want you to know that he's insisting that he never intended to kill you, only to crush your vocal cords."

"We do have Mr. Hummel's phone, and we have a clear recording of the attack. Our IT department has been working on yours and Mr. St. James' computers, and he has had a direct link to your computer. He has been watching your side of your conversations with Mr. Hudson for months. We also have the duplicate key to your apartment that we found in his pant's pocket on his key ring."

"The DA's office thinks that we have a pretty open and shut case against him."

"I know that the psychological trauma after an assault like this can be worse than the attack itself, but you're safe. You have your family and friends here, and Mr. St. James isn't going anywhere. I do have a few more questions, but I'll wait until you're feeling better."

Leroy and Hiram accompanied the detective back into the hall; they had a few more questions for him.

Finn hugged Rachel again, "See baby, you're safe now. Jesse's going to be locked up for a long time. He can never hurt you again, I'll kill him first."

Within the hour, the doctor who had seen Rachel when she was admitted and a throat specialist came into Rachel's room.

"Hello, I'm Dr. Rosemond, I admitted Miss Berry when the paramedics brought her in last night. This is Dr. Goldstein. He specializes in injuries to the throat. I have asked him to take over Miss Berry's case."

"Is our daughter going to be alright?" Hiram and Leroy asked almost in unison.

"It's too early to tell, Dr. Goldstein said. I haven't had a chance to examine her, and I'd like to do several tests first before I have an opinion. Your daughter's injuries are going to need an MRI, but I'd like for the swelling to go down first. Which of you are family members? I'd like to have a consult with you in my office later when I've had a chance to run a few tests and examine her."

Hiram and Leroy spoke up, "She's our daughter."

"And she's my fiancée," Finn interrupted, "I want to be there too."

"And so you shall," said Hiram placing his hand on Finn's shoulder.

"If any of you would like to go and get some rest, now is the time to do it," Dr. Goldstein said. "Miss Berry is going to be gone most of the day with tests, and I want the speech therapist to evaluate her as well."

"I'll stay with her for the tests," Kurt said. "You three go and get some rest."

Finn started to protest when Rachel wrote, "Go" on her white board.

Hiram, Leroy, and Finn all kissed her on her head before they headed over to the O'Malley's for a meal and some sleep.

Jillian was still at the O'Malley house when Finn and Rachel's two dads arrived.

"Hiram, Leroy, this is Jillian my tutor at Ohio State. You met her when you can down to Columbus last July for Rachel's performance in _West Side Story_," Finn said introducing the two men to Jillian.

Jillian greeted the two men before she introduced her family to Finn, Leroy, and Hiram.

Everyone was introducing themselves to each other when Jillian pulled Finn aside to talk.

"How's Rachel?" she asked. "I mean physically and emotionally."

"The doctors said that it's too early to tell about her physical injuries, but I'm most worried about her emotionally," Finn answered. "Rachel felt like her voice was her identity before this happened. If Jesse has taken her voice away from her, I don't know how she's going to cope. Jesse certainly knew how to hurt her the most."

"That was why I was asking you that question," Jillian said. "I remember her saying that she was like Tinkerbelle. That she lived for applause."

"That's my Rachel," Finn answered. "We haven't even mentioned Juilliard, but that's going to be a blow too."

"Speaking of school," Jillian continued. "I'm heading back to OSU later tonight. I'll go and talk to all of your professors, but you need to get back before you get too far behind."

"I can't even think about that right now," Finn said running his hand through his hair. "Call me when you have talked to my professors, maybe I'll know something by then."

-/-

On Rachel's second morning in the hospital, Dr. Goldstein

met with Leroy, Hiram, and Finn in his office while Tina stayed with Rachel.

"Gentlemen, from my preliminary tests that I've had done, and my consult with the speech therapist, I see no need to keep your daughter in the hospital any longer so I'm discharging her at noon today. Until the swelling goes down, we need to take a wait and see approach. I know that the four of you are from Ohio and staying in New York for an extended period of time may not be feasible. If you would like, I can make some inquires and refer Rachel's case to a throat specialist and a speech therapist in Ohio."

"From an emotional stand point, getting her out of New York and back home may make the most sense. Feeling safe can only help with her recovery."

"What about her schooling? She's a student at Juilliard?" Hiram asked.

"Juilliard will have to wait," Dr. Goldstein said. "I think that the school will let her take a leave of absence, but for now I just want to see if she'll be able to speak again. Time and modern medicine can work wonders, but there's a lot of damage. Do you want me to tell her?"

"Rachel would probably be more likely to accept the news from you, but we want to be there when you tell her," Leroy said.

"I'll tell her, said the doctor. "When you get her home, you'll probably need to find some temporary psychological help for her as well. Like a rape victim, she's going to feel violated. Like someone who's suddenly paralyzed, she's going to will her voice to work, but it won't. And for a singer, she may feel like she has lost her identity."

"Our Rachel's a fighter," Hiram interjected.

"Fighter or not, her wounds are more than physical," the doctor concluded.

-/-

Dr. Goldstein gave Rachel the news and she was devastated.

"Jessie may as well have killed me," Rachel wrote on her white board. Tears streaming down her face.

"I know that this is hard news to take, but I'm not giving up hope that you'll one day speak again. For now, I'm going to ask you to try not to cry. It congests your sinuses and we need them as clear as possible and not draining into your throat. I'm also going to ask you to refrain from kissing your fiancée for now, germs. You'll also be on a prescribed liquid diet. I've made some inquiries and I've found who I consider to be an excellent throat specialist in Columbus, Ohio." Turning to Hiram and Leroy, the doctor asked, "Is Columbus near your home town?"

"Its two hours away, but I go to school in Columbus at OSU," Finn answered.

Rachel's lip was trembling. "Jesse even took away my tears and my dreams of Juilliard," she wrote on her white board.

"Juilliard will be there when you have healed," Leroy said as he hugged his daughter. "We're meeting with the dean this afternoon to ask about a leave of absence for you."

Finn called Mercedes and Tina and asked them to bring over a change of clothes for Rachel to wear. The blood spattered clothing that she had on when she can in had been taken for evidence.

Rachel couldn't bear to go back to her apartment or Kurt and the girl's apartment so they accepted an invitation to go to the O'Malley's for the night. Being surrounded by friends was better than a hotel room.

She saw Dr. Goldstein one more time the next morning with her dads while Finn and Kurt went by the police station to talk to the detective.

Jesse had been charged with attempted murder, but a psych evaluation had been ordered. Detective Carter would be in touch with any new developments, and he agreed that getting Rachel out of New York might be the best thing for her now.

By the afternoon, the four were on a plane for Lima, Ohio. Tina and Mercedes had packed clothes for Rachel, and Kurt was going to have the rest of her things from her old apartment shipped back to Lima and end her lease.

Rachel held tightly to Finn's arm as the plane took off. She wrote to him on her white board, "I never thought that I'd leave this town this way."

"Don't worry babe," Finn said to her. "You'll be back to nail Jesse's hide to the wall, and Broadway will be waiting. I'm going to be with you every step of the way."

-/-

Once back in Lima, Finn, Hiram, and Leroy settled Rachel back into her old room. Finn drove Rachel's pink Prius over to Carole and Burt's long enough to tell them the details, and to call Jillian in Columbus.

"Hi Jillian, we have Rachel back in Lima now. I'll never be able to thank you and your parents for all of your help over the last three days."

Finn went on to tell her the details from the doctors and the detective before he asked her if she'd spoken to his professors and the athletic department about his absence.

"Your professors and the athletic department say if you come back now, we can work together to get you caught up. If you choose to stay away much longer, they recommended that you take a W/P in all of your classes, but if you do you'll lose your eligibility and your scholarship. You'll be off of the team and Sam will automatically move up into your place."

"What's a W/P?" Finn asked.

"A W/P is withdraw/passing which is better than W/F, which means withdraw/failing. But in your case neither one of them is good. As hard as it sounds, you really need to get back here and back in class. Your future at Ohio State is riding on your remaining academically eligible."

Finn rubbed his hand through his hair. "Let me talk to Rachel about it. I don't want her to feel abandoned. Hiram and Leroy are already talking about moving their legal office to their living room to be here with her. What's bothering me is when everything that she's lost occurs to her. Right now she's living on adrenalin and pain pills."

"Talk to her Finn. Don't let Jesse take this opportunity away from the two of you as well." Jillian concluded before the two hung up.

Finn went back to the Berry household and told the three of them everything that Jillian had found out for him.

"Go back to OSU," Rachel wrote on her white board. "Jesse can't take this away from you too."

"Rachel, I don't want you to feel that I'm abandoning you," Finn said.

"You aren't," wrote Rachel. "Dad and Daddy will be here with me, and all that I can do right now is heal. Nothing would give Jesse more pleasure than to know that he's ruined your chance at a future too."

"Are you sure?" Finn asked.

"Yes, I'm sure. My dads will be taking me to Columbus to see the throat specialist anyway."

"Rachel, I just feel that if I had been there in the first place, this would've never happened. I have felt that something wasn't right since last summer," Finn said.

"You couldn't have known," she wrote. "I'm the one who ignored the signs."

"If you're sure that you'll be okay, than I may ask Mom or Burt to drive me back to Columbus for the rest of the week. I'll be back this weekend with my truck. I don't have a car here."

"That'll be okay, it's just for two days," she wrote. "I

can text and email you. No more live chats on the computer."

After a long and reluctant good bye, Burt and Carole drove Finn back to OSU. He made the rounds with all of his professors and collected his work and tapes of the missed lectures. Thank goodness football season was over. That was one less thing to try and squeeze in.

Quinn and Sam made the trip to Lima that weekend to see Rachel, and Finn sat in the back seat of the Tahoe trying to get caught up on his missed work. As Finn rode in the back seat, he remembered the last time that he and Rachel were in Sam's Tahoe. It was the trip to the Pocono's and he'd proposed. He remembered fogging up Sam's windows and Rachel drawing hearts on them with their initials inside the hearts.

Quinn looked over her shoulder and saw that Finn had stopped reading his study notes and tears were rolling down his face. "Finn," she said, "Rachel's alive," as she put her hand on his.

Sam drove straight to Rachel's house and the three all ran inside to see her. Quinn was horrified when she saw the two hand shaped bruises on either side of Rachel's neck. They'd gone from black and blue to just blue. So many times she had wished that Rachel would just shut up, now she would give anything to hear Rachel speak.

Sam saw the bruises and the silenced Rachel and his fists clinched. Sam had never met Jesse, but he was ready to beat him to a pulp when he saw the damage that he had done.

Finn gave her a hug and sat down beside her as close as he could get. "I wish that I could kiss you, but the doctor said no germs for now."

Hiram and Leroy joined the four from their temporary office in the living room. "We'll be in Columbus on Monday. Rachel sees the specialist that Dr. Goldstein recommended in the morning and the speech therapist right after lunch. Dr. Goldstein was able to get us an appointment right away," Hiram said.

"What is this new doctor's name?" Finn asked.

"Dr. Robert J. Morris," Leroy answered. "I've already researched him on the internet and he seems very qualified. We're going to spend Monday night in Columbus if you would like to go out for dinner."

"That would be great," Finn said. "I wish that I could go with you to the doctor's office, but I have classes and labs all day on Monday. I'm almost caught up."

Rachel felt like she was the elephant in the room that everyone was talking about and no one was talking to. After Quinn and Sam left and her dads returned to the living room she snuggled up next to Finn.

"You don't have to stay with me," she wrote on her white board.

"I'm going to stay with you until your dads kick me out later tonight, Finn said as he kissed her head.

"No, I mean you don't have to stay with me now that I'm broken. I won't hold you to the engagement," she wrote on her dry-erase board.

Finn was stunned. "How could you even think that?" Don't you remember my essay? I said that I wanted to marry Rachel Berry the person, not Rachel Berry the performer. Rachel, no one wants you to speak and sing again any more than I do, but if that doesn't happen then it doesn't matter to me. Please don't push me out of your life over this. We can make it together no matter what. And no, I don't think of you as broken, and you'd better not either."

Rachel smiled as he kissed her forehead. "I need to take my dirty laundry over to mom's house. Do you feel like going with me? I know that she and Burt would love to see you."

"I don't want to leave the house, but you are welcome to use the Prius," she wrote.

The rest of the weekend was spent inside the Berry house. Finn and the dads thought that it was because Rachel didn't want people to see the hand shaped bruises on her neck.

But they could've been covered with a scarf or a turtleneck. What Rachel was feeling was that she was becoming invisible, but no one was seeing her slide into a black hole of depression. She only wrote something down when she was asked a question, and the only time that she smiled was when Finn was with her.

Finn left for Columbus with Quinn and Sam on Sunday afternoon. Rachel and her dads followed on Monday morning.

Dr. Morris had already received Rachel's records from New York and had gone over them thoroughly. He spent nearly an hour examining Rachel and ordered his own MRI. He wanted her to see the speech therapist and then come back the following morning. He wanted to scope her throat for a better look. That would involve putting her into a twilight sleep for a short period of time. His office had its own anesthetist so it could all be done in his office.

As soon as Finn was out of his last class he called to see what time they wanted to meet for dinner. He was anxious to hear what the doctor had said.

"Rachel wants to have room service, so come on over when you're ready." Leroy said to Finn.

When Finn arrived at their hotel that night, it was the first time that Rachel had smiled all day.

It had been a long day of tests, and working with the speech therapist had made her realize just how much of her voice was gone.

After her throat was scoped the next morning, Dr Morris met with Hiram and Leroy.

"There's significant damaged," the doctor told her dads. Her attacker must have known where to place his hands to do the most damage, but I'm hopeful that micro-surgery might restore at least some of her speech. It's going to take time and a lot of speech therapy."

"What about singing? She was at Juilliard preparing for a career on Broadway with this happened." Hiram asked.

"Right now, I just want her to speak," Dr. Morris said. "I know that this sounds bad, but it would be a good idea if Rachel and those around her started learning sign language as a way to communicate. I'm not giving up hope, but just in case."

"This is going to be so devastating, singing's her life. Learning sign language now is going to seem like throwing in the towel to her," Leroy said holding back the tears. "How are we going to tell her?"

"I'll tell her," said Dr. Morris. "Rachel and I are going to be working together for awhile, and she needs to know that she can trust me to tell her the truth."

Rachel took the news easier than they had expected. She nodded, and bowed her head while her dads and the doctor scheduled the micro surgery, speech therapy, and her first class of sign language. At least she could still hear the sound of her own voice inside her head.

-/-

Thank you for your many kind reviews, and please keep reading and reviewing. Jesse's trial won' disappoint. Whistler Nights.


	17. Chapter 17 Winter in Ohio

Winter In Ohio – Chapter 17

(Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or any of the characters.

Winter in Ohio had settled in with a vengeance. Finn was back on a regular schedule at Ohio State and Rachel was in Lima with her dads. Almost every week she had an appointment or two in Columbus. The snow and ice seemed to have moved in for good.

Dr. Morris had performed micro surgery on her damaged throat twice, but now it was up to healing, therapy, and time. Rachel was growing increasingly depressed.

Rachel, Hiram, and Leroy had added sign language to their daily routine. Hiram was resistant to learn. He felt in his heart that Rachel's voice would return. Leroy was willing to learn, but Rachel and Hiram saw it as a defeatist attitude. Rachel had taken a "take or leave it" attitude toward the whole sign language idea.

Back in Columbus, Finn was trying to pick up reading sign language as fast as he could while trying to maintain his GPA at the same time. Once football training camp started, he would have less time. Jesse's trial was also looming in the distance.

In was on one of their icy, slip and slide trips to Columbus that Leroy called Finn and asked him to meet the two men for lunch. Finn didn't have a lab until 1:30 and Rachel would be with the speech therapist until 2:00.

There was eight inches of fresh snow on the ground, but all three managed to meet at noon after Hiram and Leroy dropped Rachel off.

The three had finished their sandwiches when Hiram was the first to bring up the subject that the dads wanted to discuss with Finn.

"I just want to go on record that I'm opposed to Leroy's idea, but I want what's best for Rachel," Hiram said as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Please let me speak Hiram," Leroy said. "I've always let you take the lead on serious matters, but this time I think that you're wrong."

Finn raised his eyebrows in worry and surprise.

Leroy began, "Finn, since you don't see Rachel on a day to day basis, I don't know if you have noticed, but she's becoming more and more depressed. She perks up when she's with you, but she's distant and indifferent otherwise. We know that she's lost so much, and we're getting worried that she's giving up."

"The only thing that brings a smile to her face is coming to Columbus to see you. The days when we've had to cancel her appointments with either her doctor or her speech therapist because of icy roads or snow have been the worst."

"Last summer when she was here with you at OSU was the last time that we saw her truly happy. We've discussed getting her an apartment here, but she's afraid to be alone. Please don't think that we're dumping our parental responsibilities off on you, but would you think about maybe letting Rachel spend the winter with you? She wouldn't have to miss her appointments, she'd feel safe, and being with you is the only thing that makes her smile anymore. Hiram and I'll pay all the costs and come to see her every weekend."

Hiram interrupted, "I still think that you'd be shipping our daughter off to live in sin. She's our responsibility, not Finn's."

Finn was afraid to speak as Leroy shot back at the more dominate Hiram, "Rachel and Finn are engaged to be married. Rachel offered to let Finn out of the engagement but he refused. Please get your head out of the nineteenth century; she isn't a little girl any more. She's a grown woman. Stop being so naive."

Finn waited for the dust to settle between the two dads before he offered his opinion, "Actually he began, I've already thought of that idea. The university has a student housing village for couples and families only. Rachel would be surrounded by college students her own age and their children. Her doctor's offices aren't that far away, and my truck is a four wheel drive. I can take her to her appointments if the weather's bad. Hiram, if it makes you feel any better, they have two bedrooms, two baths units over there."

"I'd have to see these units first," Hiram pouted, "But if Finn's agreeable than I might be agreeable. We haven't discussed this with Rachel; she may want to stay in Lima."

Rachel didn't want to stay in Lima. When the three men approached her with the idea later that evening, she was happier than she'd been in months. A two bedroom unit was picked out and Rachel was in Columbus in a matter of days. Hiram still made sure that Rachel had one of the bedrooms and Finn had the other.

Rachel still had plenty of alone time when Finn was at class or at tutoring, but she made friends with the neighbors who had a baby, and she had Jillian, Quinn, and Sam. Finn made her promise to learn sign language with him. Even if her voice came back, it would be a good skill to have, and it helped fill her hours. She enrolled in the sign language class that Finn was taking, and just being on campus with him seemed to lift her spirits.

One evening it was snowing and sleeting hard. Rachel was practicing her sign language with her computer and Finn was at the kitchen table trying to figure out a calculus problem. He had cancelled going over to Jillian's dorm in such bad weather. Rachel looked up and noticed that while Finn was working his calculus problem with his right hand, he was constantly rubbing his right shoulder with his left hand.

She walked up behind him and rubbed his shoulder while she looked at the calculus problem that was giving him such grief. Pulling his scratch paper over to the side and taking the pencil from Finn's hand she wrote, "Shoulder giving you problems?"

"Yes, baby it is, It's my throwing arm and all of this cold weather's making it hurt," he said while offering her a smile.

Rachel continued to study the calculus problem before she copied it on to Finn's scratch paper and worked it.

"You did it Rachel! I've been looking at the same problem for half an hour," Finn said as he gave her an even bigger smile.

She smiled back at him and then retreated to the bathroom. When she came back she had a bottle of hand cream and a towel with her. Finn was still seated at the kitchen table working his math problems when she came up behind him and pulled his t-shirt over his head.

Rubbing the hand cream in her hands to warm it up, she started giving his aching shoulder a deep message.

"You've no idea how good that feels, my shoulder has been hurting ever since the weather turned so cold."

She rubbed both of his shoulders and his back and neck before she wiped her hands on the towel and offered his t-shirt back to him.

"Rach that felt so amazing. What can I do for you? Rub your feet and warm them up or something?" he said with a sleepy smile.

Reaching for his scratch sheet of paper and his pencil again, she leaned over him and wrote, "I'm not broke, make love to me."

Finn turned in his chair and looked up at her, "Are you sure?"

She nodded yes before she leaned down and kissed him.

"What about your throat? What about germs?"

"Your germs are my germs," she wrote back before she led him to the bedroom that she'd been sleeping in.

That night while the snow and sleet continued to fall, Finn discovered that Rachel could still moan and sigh. Hearing a sound come from her lips was almost as good as the love making.

The snow was so deep the next day that classes were cancelled. The two spent the entire day wrapped up in each others arms. She didn't need to speak. She spoke to him over and over again with her body.


	18. Chapter 18 The Trial

The Trial – Chapter 18

( Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or any of the characters.)

(All names are made up and any use of someone's name is purely accidental.)

Warning: Mild language

It seemed like winter in Ohio would never end that year. One cold, snowy, windy day blended into the next.

It had been a brutally cold week of classes and Finn was glad that the weekend was here. He entered their small apartment to find Rachel had prepared a more special than usual dinner with candles and wine.

"Babe, what's this all about? Are we celebrating the weekend or something?"

Dressed in one of her out to dinner dresses, she walked up to him, placed a light kiss on his lips and signed with her hands, "Listen."

Taking a deep breath and channeling all of her strength into the attempt she said, "I".

"What? Did you say I?" Finn said in surprise.

Rachel nodded happily.

"I wuv oou," she said as she signed I love you while pointing at herself and then him.

"Did you just say I love you?"

Rachel nodded yes with the biggest grin on her face as she hugged him tightly.

"And I love you too, Baby. I love you too. How long have you been able to make sounds?" Finn asked in amazement.

Rachel signed back to him, "A few days, but I wanted to say I love you before I told you."

We've got to call your dads; they're going to be so amazed.

Finn called Leroy and Hiram and Rachel repeated, "I wuv oou," into the phone. Rachel and Finn could hear the celebrating on the other end of the phone call.

When the cheering had quieted down Hiram said to Finn. "Don't mention this to anyone right now. I want to ask our lawyer what effect this might have on our case. This is a start, but she has so much further to go. I don't want them to think that she is all better now, and that no harm was done."

Rachel and Finn agreed to keep it quiet for now as she continued to practice vowel sounds. Dr. Morris was optimistic. It was a start; her vocal cords had shown healing. Finn continued to made her speak to him in sign language if she wanted to say something. He insisted, no more white board between the two of them.

At night before they kissed goodnight she would say, "I wuv oou," to Finn.

And he would say, "I wuv oou too," back to her. "Baby talk is so sexy."

One cold afternoon, they were stretched out on the bed studying together when the phone call that they had been dreading came.

The district attorney's office in New York City had contacted Leroy and Hiram. Jesse had been deemed mentally competent to stand trial and the trial would start in mid-July. Hiram and Leroy weren't criminal prosecuting attorneys, but through their contacts they'd retained an attorney in New York to represent them.

Rachel cringed at the thought of re-living the whole ordeal all over again, and seeing Jesse for the first time since the attack.

Finn pulled her close and said, "It's all right, all of us will be with you. He can't hurt you, and it'll be good to get this behind us. Your lawyer thinks that this is an open and shut case and it should be over in no time. Then Jesse will be locked up and we can get on with our lives."

"What if I have to testify?" Rachel signed with her hands.

"Then I'll be your translator. We're getting pretty good at this," Finn said as he hugged her.

"But I don't want Jesse to see that I'm unable to speak. He'll know that he has won," she signed back to Finn.

"He'll see you and me together and know that ultimately we've won and he's lost you and his freedom. Every time that you see his face in that court room just imagine that cell door slamming shut on him. He's going to spend the best years of his life behind bars, and I'm going to spend the rest of my life with you."

Finally winter began to release its grasp on Ohio and signs of spring could be seen. Finn and Rachel began getting out of the apartment more. The families living in their student housing village knew what had happened to Rachel and went out of their way to befriend the two of them. No one asked her direct questions about her voice or her attack, but made sure that the two of them were included in neighborhood get togethers. Rachel felt safe in their midst, and she even baby sat for their neighbor's baby Seth. They practiced their baby talk together.

Second semester was drawing to a close. Finn's exams were approaching, but he was getting help with his ADD. With that and Jillian and Rachel's tutoring over the long winter, he felt comfortable going into his exams.

Hiram had wanted Rachel to move back to Lima after winter had released its grip on the Ohio roads, but he'd been out voted by Leroy, Finn, and Rachel.

With the end of second semester, it had been a year since the two of them had stood in the auditorium at McKinley High School waiting for the graduation march to start playing. Now they were a year older and were waiting for a trial to start. Finn knew that the approaching trial was on Rachel's mind constantly and used his free time to try and keep her occupied.

The Berry's prosecution attorney in New York, Nicholas Goodson had a reputation for putting criminals away and was eager to take this case to trial.

Jesse's uncle had hired the best defense attorney that he could find. Money was no obstacle. Jesse still maintained that it was never his intention to kill Rachel, only to take away her voice. His attorney had approached Jesse with an insanity plea option, which had sent Jesse into a violent rage. Jesse had gone through a degrading psych evaluation and had been deemed mentally competent and no one had better suggest that he wasn't.

As the trial approached, the Berry's attorney requested that Rachel and her dads returned to New York for trial preparation. This would be the first time that Rachel had been back to the city since she left in January. Hiram and Leroy were staying in a hotel. Rachel and Finn were glad to be staying with the O'Malley's.

The first day of the trial was set for Monday. Rachel hadn't slept that much and had paced to the point of freaking Finn out. They entered the court building that morning through the back door past the clerks and magistrates offices to the elevators.

Seated behind the prosecution table, Rachel sat with Finn, Carole, and Burt on one side and Hiram and Leroy on the other. She had made sure that Finn would block her view of the defense table. On the bench behind them were Kurt, Sam, Quinn, Mercedes and Tina.

The court room was filling up when they heard a familiar voice behind them.

"Hi there my Asian Goddess, blue streaks look good on you. Do you mind if I squeeze by you?"

"Hello Mercedes. With a swing like that you should try out for the New York Yankees or the Mets."

"Quinn, my baby mama, you're looking fantastic as always."

"Hello Lady Lips, Do you mind if I sit down between you and Kurt?"

Rachel and Finn turned around and saw that is was Puck. He had squeezed in and sat down between Sam and Kurt and was directly behind Finn.

"What are you doing here?" asked Finn.

"I'm here in support of Berry," Puck said as he leaned to give Rachel a kiss on the cheek.

"But you're supposed to be at NASCAR Tech," Finn said still a little confused.

"I know, but I wasn't going to let my friends go through something like this without me," Puck said as he gave Kurt a quick high five.

On the prosecution side, the only people that Jesse had in attendance were his uncle, James St. James and his attorney Arthur Kelley.

Rachel cringed and squeezed Finn's arm tightly when Jesse was brought in. Mercedes had smashed his face with the baseball bat, and prison medicine hadn't done a lot to fix it.

His nose had been broken and had healed with a slight twist to it. He had a scar through one eyebrow, and he'd been fitted with miss matched caps over the teeth that had been knocked out. He still managed to sneer at Rachel and her family and friends as he came in.

She could feel Finn's arm tense as she held onto it tightly.

Rachel tried to squeeze a little closer to Finn and out of Jesse's sight. "It's okay, he can't hurt you, and Mercedes certainly made a mess of his pretty boy face," Finn whispered to her while giving Mercedes a wink.

The court room continued to fill until the bailiff announced the arrival of Judge George McPherson and told everyone to rise.

The judge came in and motioned for everyone to be seated. The bailiff read the charges and then the attorneys introduced themselves to the judge.

Judge McPherson addressed Jesse's attorney. "Mr. Kelley, I've read the psych evaluation for Mr. St. James, and he's been deemed mentally competent. I've also read reports from the jail that tell of Mr. St. James having completely out of control rages. Now before we waste a lot of court time and money. Is Mr. St. James competently sane or not?"

"Your honor, the answer to that would be yes and no," said Mr. Kelley.

"Well which is it Mr. Kelley? I'm in no mood for a bunch of smoke and mirrors in my court."

Mr. Kelley asked the court appointed psychiatrist to explain.

"Mr. St. James has an extremely high IQ. It's so high that when provoked he can't handle it and he goes into a rage. It is like dropping a Ferrari Formula I engine into a Honda Civic. At low revs everything is okay, but when you step on the gas, the Civic can't handle the Ferrari engine and everything blows up. That's what happened when Miss Berry told Mr. St. James that she didn't love him and would never sing for him. She provoked him and he went from zero to sixty."

"Objection!" shouted Rachel's attorney. "My client isn't on trial.

"Sustained," answered the judge.

Finn turned to Rachel and whispered in her ear, "Maybe not being a genius isn't such a bad thing after all."

Judge McPherson turned to Jesse and his attorney and said, "Mr. St. James, you've been charged with assault with intent to kill, resulting in serious injury. How do you plea?"

"'Your honor, It's been my contention from the beginning that I've been wrongly charged. It was never my intent to kill Miss Berry, only to deprive her of her magnificent voice. My plea is not guilty."

Finn shot to his feet and began screaming in Jesse's direction, "You sorry son of a bitch! You knew that destroying Rachel's voice would be worse than killing her!"

"Order, Order," shouted the judge as Puck and Sam grabbed Finn and sat him back down.

"Young man one more outburst like that and you'll be removed from this court, and from the way Miss Berry is holding onto you, I suspect that she would like to have you here for these proceedings."

"Yes, your honor, I'm sorry," answered Finn as he adjusted his jacket.

Puck leaned forward and whispered to Finn, "This is really why I came. To keep you from jumping the rail and killing that bastard with you bare hands. Rachel needs you here, not in jail."

"Thanks," Finn whispered to Puck.

The court settled down and Jesse's trial began. It took most all of the first day to seat a jury. By time the second day of the trial adjourned for the day, Rachel had sat through films of her performances at Regionals and Nationals and had seen all the gory pictures of the inside of her throat.

Her doctors in both New York and Columbus had testified to the deliberate damage and her professors had told of her great talent and her Broadway destiny. She had seen pictures of her bruised neck and the crime scene.

The last witness of the day was Detective Pete Carter from the NYPD. When the day was over and they arrived back at the O'Malley home she was totally drained.

Wednesday would begin when Kurt then Mercedes and then Tina would be called to the stand. Finn would be the first witness called after the lunch break. Finn would be followed by two computer hacking experts. The final witness of the day would be the superintendent of Rachel's building.

Rachel would be the first witness on Thursday morning and she was scared. Scared to face Jesse, and scared to sit in the witness box unable to speak. It'd been agreed by both lawyers that Finn would interpret her sign language, and having him between her and Jesse was reassuring.

She was anxious when she left the courtroom on Wednesday afternoon, but also filled with resolve to end Jesse's grip on her life.

Thursday morning came and Rachel sat beside Finn holding tightly to his hand waiting to be called.

The court proceedings opened as usual and Judge McPherson asked Mr. Goodson to call his next witness.

"Your honor, Mr. Goodson opened. "I would like to call Miss Rachel Berry who is speech impaired to the stand. She'll be answering questions with the use of sign language and Mr. Finn Hudson will act as her interpreter if it pleases the court?"

Rachel could see Jesse smile an evil smile from across the courtroom. He was enjoying what he had done to her.

Judge McPherson nodded his approval as did Jesse's attorney Mr. Kelley.

"Before you begin," Finn interrupted. "I would like to clarify a few details." Finn then handed the bailiff an official looking piece of paper that the bailiff in turn handed to the judge.

"Mr. Goodson's next witness will be Mrs. Rachel Berry Hudson, and as her husband, I'll be interpreting for her. We were married last evening in the magistrate's office downstairs."

There was silence and shock in the courtroom before Jesse jumped to his feet in an uncontrollable rage. "No, No, No, he screamed at Rachel. How could you choose him over me? This is your entire fault! I only took your voice to punish you! If I had wanted to kill you, I would have. I can still kill you! I only wanted to take away what you cherished the most, and I have!"

Five police officers were struggling to control Jesse when the judge ordered him out of the courtroom. As they wrestled Jesse out the door he continued to scream at Rachel, "We can still be together! Please Rachel don't do this to us! I can make you forget that football fool! Don't make me come after you again. I found you once and I can find you again!"

The judge said, "I've seen enough! Mr. Kelley your client will view the remainder of these proceedings via closed circuit TV from a jail cell. But if I were you, I would talk to your client about his plea before we resume this afternoon at 1:00."

Rachel was visibly shaken as she almost collapsed into her husband's arms.

"Is it true?" Kurt asked as he ran forward to help Finn.

"Yes, we were married on our way out of this court building yesterday. When I told Rachel's lawyer about it last night, he decided to use the information to try and make Jesse snap in front of the jury and it worked."

Turning to Rachel, Finn said, "Baby I'm so sorry that you had to go through that!"

"I'm alright," she signed to Finn. "We agreed to do this and it worked. He snapped for everyone to see. But he's wrong. What I cherish the most is you."

Finn and Rachel were surrounded by family and friends. "I'm sorry that we got married this way," Finn said to everyone. "When we left last night we decided to 'just do it' when we passed by the magistrate's office. Mr. Goodson decided to use it as a power play to make Jesse show his true colors and it worked. When we get back to Lima, we'll do it all over again the right way, and all of you are invited."

At one o'clock court was resumed. At the prosecutor table only Mr. Kelley remained. Jesse's uncle didn't return, and Jesse was chained in a jail cell watching his trial go on via closed circuit TV.

Mr. Kelley stood and addressed the judge, "If it pleases the court your honor, my client Mr. Jesse St. James would like to change is plea at this time to guilty, but insane."

Judge McPherson paused for a moment and rubbed his chin before he addressed Jesse by way of the courtroom camera.

"Mr. St James," the judge continued, "Your lawyer has requested on your behalf to change your plea to guilty, but insane on the charge of assault with intent to kill, inflicting serious bodily injury. Is that correct?"

"Yes that's correct, your honor. I plead guilt, but insane," Jesse responded.

"Then I'll thank the jury for their service and dismiss them at this time. I'll see all of you back here on Friday morning at nine o'clock for sentencing. If anyone would like to address the court or Mr. St. James before sentence is handed down, that will be your time to speak. Court is adjourned," Judge McPherson concluded before his gavel hit the bench.

-/-

The Guinness flowed at the O'Malley's pub that night; everyone was relieved that it was almost over. Jesse had pleaded guilty, and Rachel didn't have to testify.

Rachel was exhausted so she and Finn left the celebration early. "Finn," she signed to him, "I would like to say something to Jesse tomorrow before he is sentenced."

"Sure babe, just tell me what you want to say, and I'll tell him for you. I don't want him anywhere near my wife."

"No, I want to say it, she signed to Finn. I have been practicing it in front of the mirror, and I have it almost perfect."

"Okay, but I want to be by your side when you do." said Finn as he kissed her goodnight."

The next morning in court Jesse was present in an orange jump suit with shackles on his wrists, ankles, and waist.

One by one different people can forward to tell Jesse and the court what they wanted to say.

Near the end, Judge McPherson asked. "Is there anyone else that would like to speak? We have time for one more person before I hand down Mr. St. James' sentence."

Rachel raised her hand and then got up. She walked up to the witness box with Finn at her side. She looked at Jesse, opened her mouth and said, "Fuck You," as clear as a bell into the microphone.

As she returned to her seat, her side of the courtroom stood up and cheered.

Those two words cut Jesse more than all the words that he had heard that morning.

Judge McPherson cleared his throat and handed down Jesse's sentence. "Mr. St. James, I order that you be admitted to a hospital for the criminally insane. If you're ever deemed to be sane, you'll be transferred to the state penitentiary to continue a sentence of not less than thirty years, with no parole option available to you.

As Jesse was lead away, the real celebration began. The party was still going strong after midnight at O'Malley's.

Finn and Rachel went upstairs and were preparing for bed when he said to her, "Okay, Mrs. Hudson, you know that I wanted a honeymoon at Whistler/Blackcomb in British Columbia, Canada, but it is July. There won't be any snow this time of year."

Rachel smiled back and signed, "Bermuda, some place warm."

"You got it Mrs. Hudson, but I think that we have to go back to Lima first and give everyone the wedding that they missed," Finn whisper as he cut off the light.

Four weeks later, the fall semester was beginning at OSU. Finn and Sam were official members of the Buckeyes team. They were both back up quarterbacks and Finn's official number was five. Late in their third game of the season, OSU was up by three touchdowns and Finn was called up to be QB1 for the remainder of the game. Rachel, her fathers and Burt and Carole were in the stands. Rachel was not cheering, but Finn had bought a set of cow bells for her that she was ringing them wildly. Finn threw a long pass, and when the receiver crossed the goal line for a touchdown he paused and pointed at Rachel. It was a habit that he had picked up in high school.

Rachel had withdrawn from Juilliard and was enrolled at OSU along with Finn, Sam and Quinn. She continued to see the speech therapists and her voice steadily improved.

The semester rolled forward from fall into winter and Christmas and Hanukkah were again approaching. The four friends again took Sam's Tahoe to that condo in the Pocono's for snowboarding. Rachel and Finn celebrated the eighth night of Hanukkah by the same fireplace where he had proposed a year earlier.

"Would you marry me again if you knew last year what you know now?" Finn asked.

"Yes," she managed to stutter back to him. "I marry you again. I have present for you."

"You are my present, Finn said as he kissed her cheek.

"No," she said in frustration. Every word was a struggle and her sentences were always broken, but Finn listened patiently as she painstakingly formed the words.

"I pray nuts," she forced her vocal cords to say.

"Why are you praying for nuts?" Finn asked with a puzzled look on his face. "We can go to the store and buy all the nuts that you want."

She shook her head and gave him an exasperated look before she tried again.

Placing his hand on her stomach, she said it again. "I pray nuts."

A light finally went on in Finn's head. "Are you trying to tell me that you're pregnant?"

"Yes," she nodded.

"When, how? Finn said in shock. "I can't believe it, let's wake up Sam and Quinn and tell them the news."

Finn jumped into the middle of Sam and Quinn's bed and was yelling at the top of his lungs, "Rachel is praying for nuts."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Sam said rubbing his eyes, and get the hell off of me."

"Rachel's pregnant, Rachel's pregnant, and we're going to be a family!"

"No more snowboarding for you," Quinn said giving Rachel a hug.

Back in Lima, no one was more overjoyed than Carole. She took Rachel to the mall and the baby shopping started immediately. Carole told every sales clerk there that she was going to be a grandma.

At their first ultrasound appointment Finn held Rachel's hand as they watched the fuzzy image on the screen.

"Do you want to know if it's boy or a girl?" asked the doctor.

As they both said yes, the doctor told them that the baby was a boy.

On their way home Finn held Rachel's hand tightly. "I know what I'd like to name him if it's okay with his mother."

"What?" Rachel stammered.

"Nathaniel, it is Hebrew, and it means Gift from God. I think that Nate Hudson has a good sound to it.

Rachel nodded and smiled widely. The name Nate had all of the right vowel sound in it for Rachel to say without the struggle.

When Nate Hudson was born, He had Rachel's brown eyes and Finn's dimples. Rachel was feeding him one afternoon singing a broken lullaby to him when Finn came home early from his classes.

"Rachel, I have news," Finn said he sat down beside his little family. "Hiram and Leroy called me earlier today. Do you remember Pete Carter, the detective from the NYPD? He called your dads to tell them that Jesse was killed in prison last week by two inmates."

"Rachel it's finally over! We can live in peace and never look over our shoulders again. He'll never hurt anyone else."

Tears flowed as they held tiny Nate between them.

"It's over," Rachel stuttered into Finn's shoulder as Nate started to cry.

They looked down and saw that the baby was getting wet from the tears. Sad tears turned to happy tears as they dried him off and Finn placed the baby on his shoulder to burp him.

-/-

One final chapter to go! Rachel has to return to her safety deposit box at the end of five years to retrieve Finn's essay that he wrote his first summer at OSU. Thank you for all of the reviews. They have kept in inspired to finish this story.


	19. Chapter 19 Graduation Day Again

Graduation Day Again

Once again Finn and Rachel stood in the back of an auditorium waiting for the Graduation March to begin. The last time that they had heard the strands of this melody was five years ago at McKinley High School in Lima, Ohio. Now they were graduating from Ohio State University together.

Standing alphabetically, Christopher Finn Hudson stood in front of Rachel Berry Hudson in the line of red graduation robes.

"I'm sorry that it isn't Juilliard," he whispered to her.

"This is better; Juilliard doesn't have a National Championship football team, and Juilliard doesn't have you," she whispered back to him.

It had taken them five years for both to get to this point. They were both graduating from Ohio State's School of Education with honors, but they'd taken the hard way to get there. Finn had to take so many preparatory classes that did not count toward graduation, and Rachel lost almost a full year after the attack, but today they stood in that red line together.

Out in the audience sat Hiram, Leroy, Burt, Kurt, and Carole with Nate on her lap. The nearly three year old toddler was really not what the newlyweds Finn and Rachel had needed at the time, but he was a God send. Finn was right to name him Nathaniel. A Hebrew name meaning Gift from God.

Rachel's attack and the trial had cost more than her voice, but Finn and the baby had brought Rachel back to life. Jesse's taunts and threats to her at the trial had been brutal, but forgotten as each day she and Nate learned to talk and sing together. Rachel's injuries had healed and a new voice returned. It wasn't the same soaring voice of her high school days, the scar tissue made the high F notes impossible, but a beautiful voice none the less. Her singing voice now had a raspy quality to it in the lower registers that Finn thought was incrediblely sexy.

As the commencement coordinator asked them all to face forward, Rachel disappeared behind the much taller Finn.

"Babe, are you still back there?" Finn said as he reached his left hand behind him. She took his left hand with her left had and held it, clinking her wedding band against his. A little inside gesture just between the two of them that they sometimes did at night in the dark. Just to let the other know that they were there.

The line moved forward and soon the graduating class of 2017 was seated with their family and friends around them.

"I wouldn't have gotten this far without you," Finn whispered to her.

"You and Nate, got me to this day," Rachel whispered back.

Diplomas were handed out, tassels turned, and it was official. They were university graduates ready to embark on careers and their future together.

That evening the Hummel/Hudson and Berry clans gathered for a celebratory dinner in Rachel and Finn's honor. As the toasts were going round, Rachel stood and asked to propose a toast herself.

"The last time that we gathered for a graduation celebration like this was five years ago. Because I almost did not get the chance speak at this celebration dinner I would like to toast all of you with a voice that the doctors were doubtful would ever return."

"To Dad and Daddy, there are not enough words to describe how much I love the two of you. You have stood by me every step of the way, and I thank you for being the best two parents that I could ask for."

"To Kurt, Mercedes and Tina, you saved my life that day and I'll never forget it. You looked out for me when I stubbornly insisted on my independence, and you protected me from a basement full of mice. Thank you little brother.

"To Burt and Carole, Burt, when all of this happened and I was left without my ability to sing or even speak, I remembered the speech that you made at yours and Carole's wedding. Jesse closed a door for me, but God opened a much bigger and better window for me when he gave me Finn, Nate, Kurt, and you and Carole."

"Carole, when Finn asked me to marry him, he gave me the engagement ring that his father had given to you. He said that he thought that it represents an unfulfilled promise. That promise had been fulfilled. Thank you for sharing your ring with me, and thank you for sharing your son with me. You have raised him to be an incredible person that I will cherish for as long as I live. Thank you also for being the mom that I never had."

"To Finn, my husband, you have stood by me through my darkest days and brought me back to life on the other side. You got me thought that terrible winter when life was just not worth living anymore. You stood by me at the trial and protected me every inch of the way. That Wednesday evening when we were leaving court building and you dragged me into the magistrate's office and asked me to marry you again was the day that I truly started to live again."

"To Nate, our son, you don't know what this means, but you are the living personification of our love for each other. You gave me the will to learn to speak and as you learned to talk and I learned with you. You are my greatest accomplishment. Not a career on Broadway, but being your mom."

"So it is to my family that I would like to raise my glass and say thank you," Rachel concluded

Carole had tears rolling down her face when Rachel concluded her toast. "Rachel, I only have one thing to say. In this increasing family of men, you and I are the only females. When am I going to get my granddaughter?" asked Carole as she held Nate on her lap.

"We'll work on it Mom, we will work on it," Finn said trying to hide the spreading blush on his face.

The evening ended and Nate spent the night with his Uncle Kurt and his grandparents at their hotel. Rachel and Finn went back to their apartment on campus to finish packing their belongings for the move and to have a night to themselves.

They had settled down into bed exhausted from all of the packing when Finn asked Rachel. "What my mom said about wanting a granddaughter, what do you think?"

Rachel yawned, "I think that it is a great idea, but not just yet. I would like both of us to get established in our careers first and maybe get a house. A house, with a yard, and maybe a dog for Nate."

"Sounds like a plan," Finn said as he pulled her close to spoon.

-/-

Two months later it was mid July and Finn, Rachel, and Nate had settled into a newer larger apartment.

"Do you know what tomorrow is?" Rachel said to Finn as he was feeding cereal to both he and Nate with the same spoon.

"Not a clue, babe, but if I don't get out the door soon, I'm going to be late. I know that next week is our fourth anniversary, and Nate's third birthday is the week after that. Do I get a gold star for remembering those two red letter days?"

"Of course, if fact you get two gold stars," Rachel said giving Finn two kisses as he was heading out the door.

"Are you and Nate still going to Lima today?" Finn asked.

"Yes, Nate and I are going to run up and see the folks, but we'll be back before dinner."

Finn backed his truck out of the driveway and headed off while waving at Rachel and Nate as he left.

Soon Rachel had Nate bathed, dressed and in his car seat, ready to go and meet Nana, Papa, G-dad, and G-daddy for lunch. The grandparents couldn't get enough of Nate so she left him with them as she went to close out her safety deposit box and retrieve one last thing. It would be five years tomorrow since Finn had written his essay, "Where Do You See Yourself In Five Years?" It was like their personal time capsule and it was time to open it.

Rachel returned to pick up Nate and it was hugs and kisses all around before the two headed back to Columbia and dinner with Finn. As usual, Carole had a care package ready for her to take back to Finn. Cookies, new socks and underwear for Finn along with perfume samples for Rachel, and a new bath tub toy for Nate.

"How were the folks?" Finn asked as he came through the door that evening giving Rachel and Nate a kiss.

"They're fine and they all send their love. Your mom sent a care package; it smells like chocolate chip cookies," Rachel told him as she put the final touches on their meal.

''I bet that it's chocolate chip cookies, socks and underwear," Finn said as he leaned over her shoulder to see what was cooking in the pot on the stove.

"Probably, but we aren't going to open it until after we eat. If it's chocolate chip cookies, Nate won't eat a bite of his dinner."

"Rach, I've been racking my brain all day, but I can't figure out what's so special about tomorrow. Can you give me a hint? Is it the anniversary of our first date or something? Should I buy a gift or flowers? Are you pregnant?"

"Nope, I'm not pregnant, and it's not the anniversary of our first date, that was last month. No gifts or flowers are required. You'll just have to wait until tomorrow."

Finn tried to tickle the information out her later in bed, but she wouldn't budge. He had to settle for getting laid instead.

The next evening Finn came through the door on time and with flowers just in case. He was still clueless.

"Okay I'm here, what's so special?" Finn called to her as he ran through the door into the kitchen.

"It's just a little something. I'll give it to you after Nate's asleep," Rachel said giving him a wink.

Poor Nate, that night Finn gave him the fastest bath and the fastest bedtime story ever. Thank goodness that he couldn't tell time, Finn had him tucked in and asleep half an hour early.

When he came back downstairs, Rachel was sitting on the couch with two glasses of wine poured and a yellowed envelope on her lap.

"Do you remember this? Look at the date on it. It's your essay from your first summer at OSU," Rachel said as she handed the paper to him.

"I can't believe that you kept this paper. Has it really been five years since I wrote this?"

"You bet I kept it. You gave it to me before I stepped on that plane for New York for the first time. I brought it back and placed it in my safety deposit box over Thanksgiving break that year. It's been there ever since. It's dated five years ago today."

Finn took a sip of his wine before he thumbed through the pages. "It still has all of the red marks on it, they haven't faded. I can't remember that professor's name, but Jillian was right. He was old enough to have come over with the Pilgrims. Well let's see, how many of my predictions did come through," Finn said as he began to read the essay out loud to Rachel.

Where Do I See Myself In Five Years?

By

Christopher Finn Hudson

In five years, I hope to see myself looking back at me in the reflection of Rachel Berry's eyes as I slip a gold wedding band on her finger. I want to marry Rachel Berry the person, not Rachel Berry the performer, the singer or the Tony winner. Only three people in the whole world know Rachel Berry the person, and I am privileged to be one of them. I would ask her to marry me now, but our education and preparations for the future must come first. To that end I am blessed to be football scholarship student here at Ohio State working on an education that my mom couldn't have otherwise afforded.

All of my fellow Buckeye teammates see themselves going pro in the NFL. Becoming football legends that will one day be inducted into the Football Hall of Fame. I'm realistic enough to know that only one in ten college players are ever drafted, and only a few of that number

ever achieve greatness. I'm aiming for that goal, but it if doesn't work out; I'd like nothing more than to teach.

I don't want to teach the high school history class or the middle school science class. I want to teach the special kids.

I want to teach the kids with ADD or ADHD or dyslexia. The ones that really want to learn, but have been written off as stupid, lazy, or just not interested. Their desire to learn is there, the wiring in their brains is just a little short circuited.

I want to teach the kids that nature has given an extra chromosome to. They're the ones with all kinds of difficulties, but have the biggest hearts.

I want to teach the kids who've been shortchanged, have had one road block after another thrown up in front of them, but have refused to give up.

Finn finished reading the essay that he'd written five years ago and then refolded it.

"I guess two out of three ain't bad. Isn't there a song by that name or something?" Finn asked with a small laugh.

"Yes baby there is," Rachel smiled back. "You're going to teach those special kids, and you and I are married and have a beautiful son. I'm sorry that the NFL didn't work out, but the three seasons that you were the quarterback for the Buckeyes were magnificent."

"Rach, I'm sorry that my shoulder didn't hold up, but at least you don't have to worry what song you're going to sing to me while I'm in a coma. This has been a nice surprise, thank you for saving my essay for five years," Finn concluded giving Rachel a kiss on her head.

"The surprise isn't over yet," Rachel said as she pulled another stack of papers out of the envelope.

"Since you wrote that essay, I decided to write one of my own and put it with yours in my safety deposit box," she said handing him the papers. "You have to read these too."

Finn unfolded the papers to find a letter to him and an essay too. The letter was dated November 2012.

Dearest Finn,

It's a cold rainy day here in New York, and I've read your letter and your essay at least one hundred times.

You're right, you're one of only three people who know me and accept me as I am. Warts and all! I do hope to be saying wedding vows to you one day when our college separation is over.

When I'm home for Thanksgiving next week I'm going to place my letter and my essay in my safety deposit box beside yours and wait five years to read them again.

Love, Rachel - P.S. My essay is for 4 ½ years, you had a head start on me.

-/-

Where Do I See Myself In Four and A Half Years?

By

Rachel Barbra Berry

Anyone who knows me at all knows that I've worked with one aim in mind. I've always wanted to be a headline performer on Broadway and have a mantel covered in Tony Awards. That was my greatest dream when I was alone, before I met Christopher Finn Hudson.

I still want to be a star on Broadway, and I'm suffering this separation from Finn working toward that goal, but I'm realistic too. Many come to New York looking for their big break and some achieve it. But in the end the curtain falls, the applause fades, the audience leaves, and you are left alone on the stage. A stage that becomes a cold, empty place when the foot lights go down and there's no one at home waiting for you.

My dreams also include a mantel lined with Tony awards, but my life will go on with or without them.

If I never make it to Broadway, I would like to teach music at a music conservatory or a glee club at a local high school.

I do want to one day stand in a white gown and marry Finn Hudson. He's the other half of me. He's the better half of me. He loves me in spite of myself and accepts me for who I am which isn't always easy to do.

-/-

Finn concluded reading her letter and her essay before he refolded it and said to Rachel,

"You wrote this before the attack didn't you? Rachel, I'm so sorry about Broadway and Juilliard, and Jesse," Finn said with a small tear in his eye. "He snuffed out your dreams in a second and I wasn't there to protect you."

Rachel put her arm around him and looked Finn straight in the eye. "I have a better future now. Broadway was all about me. Teaching at the Ohio School for the Deaf here in Columbus is my way of giving back. I lost my voice, but it has been restored. And I have you and Nate. Making a child with you has been my greatest personal accomplishment so far. One door closed for me, but like I told you, a bigger better window opened thanks to you.

Finally, The End

Finn and Rachel continued to live in Columbus, Ohio. Finn taught his special kids, the ones with ADD, ADHD, and dyslexia in the local elementary schools. In the summer he even taught Driver's Ed. Rachel taught at the Ohio School for the Deaf teaching sign language and music. Nate thrived and did get his baby sister eventually, Sarah Carole Hudson. Finn named her Sarah, a Hebrew name meaning princess. Rachel named her Carole, after the best mother that she could have asked for.

-/-

Thank you to the readers who have stuck with me through the last 19 chapters and thank you for all the great reviews. The reviews kept me inspired to keep writing. Thanks again, Whistler Nights


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